


Sparks

by vericus



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: AU after first movie, Gen, Human Allspark, Humour, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 09:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 77,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vericus/pseuds/vericus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started with a broken down truck, carried on with giant robots, got twisted up with some Allspark energy, and now the who thing's gone to the Pits. Alex's life has never been more out of her control...literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Monster Mothers and Peterbilt Trucks

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally THE first Transformers fanfic I ever wrote, way back before I really understood any of the characters beyond those in the 2007 movie, before I looked into any of the history of Cybertron, basically before I became totally obsessed with giant alien robots. As such, I couldn't bear to post it here without a little...editing. Some scenes have been changed, curse words used by the Autobots, terminology here and there...little things for the most part. The biggest changes have been the battle scenes, almost all of which have been re-written. Also, Starscream isn't such a whiny little bitch anymore, because I grew a soft spot for him since I wrote this (I blame Seeker fic!).
> 
> So to anyone who's read this before, it's probably worth another read now. To anyone who hasn't - sit back and enjoy!
> 
> P.S. The terrible prologue of terribleness has been removed as well.

Alex let out a loud curse as she landed on the ground, then spun and high-kicked the door to the truck cab she'd just exited, sending it flying shut with a loud bang. She heard a chuckle and turned to find the depot manager, George, standing a few feet away.

"The piece of junk finally give up on you, darlin'?" he drawled, his accent pegging him for a southerner even if the cowboy hat, jeans, and boots didn't give it away. George was the only one, period, who could get away with calling Alex 'darlin' - or with using her full name.

"It's not a piece of junk, and obviously not, since it got me here!" Alex snapped back, as protective of her truck as always.

"If you say so," George replied, arching an eyebrow and quirking his lips slightly as he tried not to laugh again.

"I do," Alex snarled. "Now can you go get someone to get the trailer unhooked?"

"Only if you promise not to come back half-way through and snap at them for scratching up your truck." George gave her a stern look as he spoke.

"They had it coming! Did you see the tool they were using?! That thing _had_ to have been an illegal weapon!"

George shook his head. "They were two of the best employees I'd found since your last visit, and you pissed 'em off so much they went and quit!" he said. "So unless you can promise me you won't be chewin' my staff out, you'll be unhooking your truck yourself."

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about that. I've got a pretty tight schedule tonight," Alex said with a sigh.

"Doin' somethin' with your sis?" George asked curiously.

"Apparently her newest boy's 'rents just happen to be in town tonight, and she wants me cleaned up before they get there...which'll be in about half an hour," Alex replied, glancing at her watch. George whistled.

"Our Alex, all cleaned up? Makes me wish I was invited so I could see this novelty," he said with a grin, and Alex rolled her eyes. She wasn't exactly dirty or unkempt, but in keeping with the lifestyle of a trucker, it was rare to see her in anything but jeans and a t-shirt, with her blonde hair pulled back in a severe ponytail - and cosmetics were things she just didn't have time for. She didn't own even a bottle of nail polish - as far as she was concerned, people could accept her as she was or not at all.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Just get your men out here and call me a cab, willya? Beth is probably already cursing my name; I was supposed to be there an hour ago," Alex replied, and George nodded before heading off. Alex walked around the front end of her truck, glaring balefully at the grill, before opening the passenger door and hauling her bag out of the seat. She kicked the door shut again and headed up to George's office to wait for her cab. She sat with her back to her truck, so she wouldn't have to see what George's employees were doing to it. The previous two _had_ been scratching up the truck, but she hadn't meant to curse them into quitting.

George came out of his office after a bit and sat down on the curb next to her, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up.

"Smoking kills, you know," Alex told him out of habit.

"Hasn't yet," George replied, and since he, as usual, sat downwind from Alex, she didn't say anymore. "See your mom?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"The usual." Alex shrugged. "Couldn't remember what she was doing two minutes ago, let alone my name or the fact that I'm her daughter."

"I'm sorry darlin'," George said sympathetically, but Alex shrugged it off. Her mother's Alzheimer’s had been a part of her life since she was a pre-teen - it didn't really hurt anymore, except for when she wanted the type of comfort only a mother could give. Beth, her sister, couldn't handle it. She never visited, preferring to stay out here in Tranquility, trying to find happiness in 'the perfect man'. If their father had been alive, he would've talked some sense into Beth, but he was long gone - a heart attack while resting in the back of his truck during a cross-country trip, the very truck that Alex now drove.

That was another thing Beth couldn't handle - Alex driving their dad's truck after he'd died in it. Beth seemed to think the truck should've been scrapped, or buried with him or something - which was stupid, considering what good shape it had been in when he'd died. Now, six years later, it was starting to show its age. Alex wasn't going to replace it unless it absolutely positively would not work anymore, though. George - and most of the other truck depot managers along Alex's usual routes - knew it, but were always pushing Alex to at least get a secondary truck to take some of the strain off her dad's. She always ignored them. With her CB and cell phone, it wasn't like she would get stranded somewhere, anyways.

"Cab," George said, pointing and startling Alex out of her thoughts. She looked where he was pointing to find a cab pulling into the lot.

"Thanks," she said, and risked a glance back at her truck, only to wince as she saw one of the men unhooking the trailer slam his fist down on the fifth wheel puller. She couldn't really say anything, either to George or the man, though, since not only was she in a hurry, but she'd had to get a little violent when unhooking it a few times herself. She was just glad they weren't using whatever the hell the last guys had been to work it loose.

"Have a good time, Alex," George said with a nod as she stood and headed for the cab. "And if you end up chewing anyone out, be sure to bring back tales!"

"You may even get a recording, depending on whether or not Beth allows me to keep my cell phone on me," Alex replied with a grin, fondly remembering the last time she'd met one of her sister's boyfriends, who she'd reamed out for being a spineless sycophant. Needless to say, Beth had stopped inviting her boyfriends over when Alex was around, until tonight, when it was just bad timing.

Of course, this resulted in Alex receiving a lecture in what she could and could not do or say as soon as she arrived at Beth's house, which went on all throughout Alex getting cleaned up. Even when she was in the shower, she could hear her sister talking through the door. Finally, the doorbell rang and Beth hurried off and left Alex to finish getting ready in peace. Sighing, Alex finished up, then gave herself a moment to glance around 'her' room, letting the attentiveness needed for driving an eighteen-wheeler across the country melt out of her.

While Alex didn't strictly speaking live in her sister's house, since she paid none of the bills and spent no more than a night or two every couple months in the place, she had no other permanent place to sleep (though by some sort of fluke she did keep getting the same room in one hotel out in New York), and her sister had agreed to hold onto her things for her when Alex had taken up trucking. At first Beth and Alex had both tried to keep the spare room as a neat little guest room in case Beth ever had over-night visitors that she wasn't sleeping with, but eventually they'd given up on it, and now the spare room was thoroughly designated and decorated as Alex's.

Beth still insisted she had the right to clean the room up and put Alex's things back in the closet in case she needed the room for its original purpose, but she had yet to do so. So every time Alex returned, she found her room exactly as she'd left it. It was...reassuring, to know she had someplace to come back to, even if she did love the road.

Hearing voices downstairs, Alex stirred herself, taking one last glance in the mirror and pressing down a fly-away piece of hair before heading down. Pausing half-way down the stairs, where she could just see her sister's guests, Alex surveyed them critically. Beth's boyfriend - Josh, if Alex remembered correctly - wasn't hard to pick out: tall, dark, and handsome, just as Beth had described him over the phone, he was also holding Beth close to him, an arm looped around her waist. His body language seemed a bit possessive, but given the way his mother was looking down her nose at Beth, Alex suspected his possessiveness might've been more defensive than anything else.

Alex didn't really blame his mom for looking down her nose at Beth, though - from the looks of Josh's parents, they seemed to be rather rich. Diamonds and gold glittered on his mother, and his father's wrist was adorned with a gold watch, while his pants and casual shirt were pressed neatly. To such as them, Beth's small suburban house must have seemed quite beneath their son - or at least the mother seemed to think so. The father seemed to be reserving judgment, which Alex took as a notch in his favor. The real test, Alex knew, would come when they inevitably asked what she did for a living, and that led to the explanation that her and Beth's father had been a trucker. If they could handle that, Alex would be impressed. And if they didn't, well, at least their son didn't seem too bad.

With a nod to herself, Alex headed the rest of the way down the stairs, where Beth introduced her officially to Josh, and then to his parents, Gary and Christine Vanderboten. Alex smiled pleasantly, said the right things, and acted lady-like, for her sister's sake. Christine, however, was already looking down her nose at Alex the same way she'd been looking at Beth. Gary was still reserved.

They chatted pleasantly for the next little while, until Beth decided it was time for supper, and Alex, as was proper, followed her sister to the kitchen to help.

"I don't like his mother," she said in an undertone.

"Shh," Beth replied, glancing over her shoulder, and then made a face showing her agreement as they continued to set out the supper Beth had prepared ahead of time. They finished quickly, having developed a routine for setting the table and serving food when they were children, and then invited the guests into the dining room to eat.

Supper went smoothly. Gary seeming to warm up once he'd tasted Beth's cooking, and Alex decided that this evening was going much better than the last time she met one of Beth's boyfriends. Josh's parents hadn't even asked about Alex's job yet. Beth seemed to have decided that the evening was going well, too, and was relaxing and laughing a bit more. Which was, of course, when Christine decided that looking down her nose at the two sisters wasn't enough and had to comment, instead.

"Excuse me?" Alex asked in the uncomfortable silence following Christine's remark, thinking she had heard the older woman wrong.

"Well of course one can't expect gourmet cooking, but it is more than I would have expected," Christine elaborated instead of repeating, and Alex blinked, then glanced over at Beth, who was quiet obviously trying very hard to keep the smile on her face. Josh was hiding his expression behind his glass of water, while Gary seemed to be ignoring the whole discussion.

"That's certainly...nice to hear. Do you cook yourself, then?" Alex asked, trying not to break any of the rules her sister had set out for her.

"Me? Goodness, no. That's was chefs are for," Christine replied with a smug smile. Alex glanced over at Beth with a pleading look - but it was Josh, teeth clenched, who saw Alex's look and nodded, while Beth sat there, looking miserable. Not caring about how Josh knew what she'd been asking, Alex returned her attention to Christine almost gleefully.

"Well then I don't really see how you have any right to complain about the quality of the food, since my sister made it herself, with only the teaching of our mother to guide her, instead of several years of school."

"Of course, of course. As I said, it was better than I expected to be eating in such a common place," Christine said dismissively. "One can only blame your mother for not teaching her children proper cooking skills." And Alex lost it.

Later, she had no idea what she said, only knowing what Josh laughingly recited back to her in-between trying to soothe Beth, who was intermittently crying, thanking Alex, and swearing at Josh for having such a horrible mother. From what Josh said, though, Alex had done a repeat of what she'd done with Beth's ex-boyfriend before - picked apart every single flaw she could find in Christine, not giving her a moment to get a word in edgewise, and then instructing her to leave and not return unless she came armed with an apology. Gary escorted his wife out at that point, and Josh confided that his father had expressed admiration that Alex spoke her mind, and that Beth was smart enough to let her do so.

"Actually, tonight went a lot better than I expected," Josh admitted after his mirth at Alex telling his mother off had calmed down.

"Oh really?" Alex asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I know my mother can be difficult, and I was sort of dreading her meeting Beth here, because - no offence, hon - Beth tends to let people talk down to her without defending herself," Josh replied.

"Not my fault I had an older sister ready to beat the snot out of anyone who insulted me, whether or not I wanted her to," Beth mumbled, her face hidden in her arms.

"Hey, the beatings came _after_ I realized you didn't defend yourself, not the other way 'round," Alex said defensively, and Beth looked up long enough to give Alex a watery smile.

"Regardless, I'd been anticipating another shouting match between mother and me, with Beth in the middle and Dad awkwardly trying to get her out of it, but you neatly avoided that, Alex," Josh said. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Alex smirked, then turned to Beth. "And hey, be happy Beth, at least I didn't ream out your boyfriend this time!" There was a brief chuckle from Beth's arms, and to Alex's surprise, from Josh, as well. Remembering that he'd also been the one to give her the go-ahead nod, Alex shot him a questioning look.

"Beth did warn me about her sharp-tongued trucker sister," he said with a grin, then looked down at Beth consideringly. "I think for now I'd better take this sister up to bed, though."

"Agreed," Alex said as she observed Beth, who had gone from tense and distressed, to loose and relaxed over the course of Josh's recounting of Alex's explosion. Without another word, Josh scooped Beth up in his arms, causing her to yelp and grab onto his neck, before saying goodnight and heading upstairs to Beth's bedroom.

"So help me, if I hear anything coming from that room, I will start throwing things at the door, up to and including glassware!" Alex called up after them. In response, just as they headed out of sight, Beth flashed her middle finger at her sister. Alex laughed, then stood and began clearing the table, putting away the food, putting the dishes in the dishwasher and starting it, before settling in to watch a bit of the news before going to bed herself.

There were the usual pieces about the war in the Middle East, the robberies, thefts, and other crimes around the city, and a brief note about the on-going reconstruction in Mission City after whatever the hell had happened there a few months ago. The reporters and government were saying that some experimental technology had been stolen by terrorists, but Alex had never bought that. From the stories she'd heard, a few first hand, and the damage she'd seen, not even the American government could have technology advanced enough to cause the chaos in Mission City. Too much damage, not enough wholesale destruction. It was all weirdly localized. She didn't have any other explanation, however, and she wasn’t the type to push conspiracy theories on anyone who would listen, so she just kept her thoughts about it to herself.

\---

Alex woke the next morning to the smell of coffee and bacon, and stumbled downstairs, barely remembering that there was a man in the house and dressing decently before doing so. In the kitchen, she blinked as she found Josh standing in front of the stove while her sister sat at the table, sipping coffee.

"You cook?" she asked Josh incredulously.

"Yes," he replied with a chuckle.

"His roommate in college was there for his Chef's certificate," Beth mumbled over her coffee. Now that Alex knew it wasn’t her sister cooking, she was suitably impressed that Beth was even awake, let alone upright and downstairs.

"Bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee aren't exactly hard to make," Josh admitted as he flipped several pieces of bacon. "Oh, you left your cell phone on the table in the living room. It rang about half an hour ago, but Beth told me not to get it or wake you."

"Too early," Beth mumbled, and Alex grinned at how much of a morning person her sister was not. She remembered how the one and only full-time 9-5 daytime job that her sister had gotten had almost killed her. It wasn't even Beth's fault, either - she just couldn't fall asleep before 3 in the morning, unlike Alex, who could sleep anytime, anywhere.

"Better go see who it was, then," Alex said, making a brief detour to ruffle her sister's hair - which Beth literally snapped at her for, trying to bite her fingers - before heading for the living room. Her eyebrows raised as she saw it was the depot that had phoned, and used her sister's land line to call them back.

"Hey George, what's the news?" she asked as George picked up on the other end.

 _"Got a shipment that has to go out right away, frozen groceries, and you're my only trucker in town that doesn't have a load,"_ he replied without any preamble.

"How right away?" Alex asked with a grimace.

_"Now."_

"Aw crap, guess I don't get to taste how good a cook Beth's new boy is." Alex sighed, and George let out an appreciative whistle.

_"Wow, this one cooks? Now I feel real bad for stealing you away."_

"Yeah, you'd better," Alex shot back. "Alright, give me twenty and I'll be down there."

 _"Sooner is better, darlin',"_ George replied. Saying goodbye and hanging up the phone, Alex poked her head into the kitchen.

"Sorry you two, looks like I gotta run. You owe me breakfast next time I'm in town, though, Josh!" Alex said with a grin, then called a cab and hurried up the stairs to get ready. Within ten minutes, she was out the door and on her way back to the depot, arriving just barely within the time she’d given George. He was obviously arguing with someone on the phone, so Alex headed over to her truck and jumped in, throwing her bag in the back, ready to drive it over to George's office while she waited for him to get off the phone.

That was not to be, however, as the engine coughed once, then fell silent, the wheezing of the starter trying to catch something the only noise. Alex cursed, popped the hood, and climbed out of the cab to peer inside the engine, trying to spot what was wrong.

"Alex! Get that truck moving! The guys're getting nasty!" George's voice came from across the depot, and Alex looked up to see him striding over, a scowl deeply ingrained on his face. Frowning, she looked back down at the engine. Nothing struck her as immediately wrong, so she jiggled a few connections, tried tightening them. She hopped down and closed the hood just as George came up, then climbed back into the cab and tried to start the engine again. This time the engine didn't even cough, leaving her with only the wheezing starter.

"Don't tell me this thing finally gave up the ghost?" George said dangerously as she popped the hood again.

"Give me a minute, I'll get it running," Alex said dismissively as she took a closer look at the engine. George pulled himself up on the other side and eyed the engine critically.

"Alex, that trailer needs to get moving yesterday," he said after a moment, looking up. He couldn’t see anything obviously wrong, either.

"Yes, well, it's kind of hard to get it moving without a truck to pull it, now, isn't it?" Alex snarled in response. Inwardly, where nobody else could hear, she cursed the truck. It had been shaky for awhile now, but nothing had ever gone wrong with the starter...until today, when she absolutely needed the truck. Of course. "Shut the hood for me, willya?" Alex asked as she hopped down, having poked around a bit and checked various fluids and parts. George sighed and did as she asked while Alex returned to the cab and turned the key in the ignition again. The starter wheezed, but nothing more.

"Goddammit!" Alex cursed out loud this time, slamming one fist into the steering wheel.

"Look, darlin', I know you prefer to drive this truck, but it obviously ain't goin' anywheres this morning," George said, coming around to the driver's side. "The depot has a truck 'round back that we got awhile ago, you can use that for this run while I get your truck sent to th’shop to be fixed up. When you get back here, you can return our truck and pick up yours." Alex frowned down at him.

"What about your mechanics?" she asked. "Aren't they around to do a quick check? It's probably just some small thing..."

"Or it could be the entire engine with a truck this old, and you know it, Alex. Besides, my mechanics aren't in for another hour, and that trailer is waiting," George replied impatiently. Alex snarled, then grabbed her bag and hopped down out of the truck. Slamming the door, she let loose a string of curses, finishing by kicking the front tire.

"Alright, lead the way," she said finally, sighing in frustration. George set off at a brisk walk, leading Alex around to the back of the depot, near his office. Alex stopped in surprise as she saw the truck that was waiting for them there.

It was a Peterbilt, a 379 model no less. A little old, but it looked like it was in prime condition, even if it did have a tacky red-and-orange flame decal over the dark blue body. Dropping her bag on the ground, Alex walked up to it slowly, and then began inspecting it. It looked almost as good as new - there was barely any grime on the engine, the fifth wheel looked like it had never been used...Alex frowned and looked up at George.

"Where on Earth did you get this?" she asked. "This is good. And expensive."

"Well, it was kinda strange," George said, scratching his neck as he frowned. "This guy – middle-aged, goin’ grey, 'bout my height - drove up in it about a month ago, said he was retiring and wanted his truck to get some use, instead of just sittin’ around in his driveway until he died and his kids sold it for a quarter of its worth. Then he handed me the keys and walked off. I went after him to tell him it wasn't that simple, papers needed to be signed, but he was gone."

"Weird." Alex frowned as she gave the truck another once-over, contemplating sealing the fact that she'd be driving it soon by getting into the cab.

"Yeah, really. I phone the police, naturally. I expected them to, I dunno, impound it or something, but the next week they came by with this guy in a suit, carrying the ownership papers for the truck and wanting me to sign," George replied. "Funny thing was, there was no previous owner listed on the papers. When I phoned the station, they said it was completely legit, and, well, I figured the whole station couldn't be in on some kind of truck racket, so I signed. It's been sitting here since then."

"Definitely weird," Alex repeated, then gave in and climbed into the cab. She tried not to notice how comfortable it was as she inspected the CB, air conditioning, lights, the sleeping space in the back, anything that could possibly give her a reason to complain about this truck. If she couldn't drive her father's truck, she at least wanted to be able to bitch about the one she was driving. But the only thing she'd found to complain about was the tacky paint job.

"Here, I'll go get the keys and the address," George said suddenly from Alex's elbow, and she started, looked down to see him holding up her bag. Sighing, she took it and tossed it in the back before taking a close look at where the shifter, brakes, lights, and various other controls were positioned, so she wouldn't have to go fumbling for them later. George returned quickly, handing her the keys and the address where she was to pick up the trailer.

"Thanks," Alex said, and then sighed. "Promise you'll have my truck fixed by the time I get back?"

"If it's at all possible," George replied solemnly, and Alex smiled her thanks before sticking the keys in the ignition and starting the truck. It roared to life with a satisfying sound, and Alex couldn't help but enjoy the sound for a moment - her dad's truck hadn't sounded like that in years. George gave her a knowing look before shutting the door and stepping back, waving her off.


	2. GoogleWhacking and Gas Money

Optimus Prime was enjoying himself immensely. It wasn't just the fact that the only Decepticon left on Earth, Barricade, was laying low, meaning that he and the other Autobots could finally relax a little. Nor was it due entirely to the fact that he was currently being expertly driven through a stretch of landscape that reminded him of Cybertron, while rather pleasant music played through his stereo. No, on top of all that was the blissful silence from ignoring the Autobots communications channel. He hadn't had this much silence in over a month - ever since Bumblebee's vocal processes had been restored and the twins had arrived.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had landed on Earth a mere two days after Optimus had sent his message out to all the other Autobots in the galaxy - which led him to the somewhat paranoid belief that they'd been following the Ark, waiting for Optimus and the others to land before making their appearance and starting their insanity all over again. This time they'd dragged Bumblebee into it - the smaller Autobot was only too happy to help, if only because it let him use his voice again.

They'd been constantly talking over the Autobots communications channel, only one of them seeming to recharge at a time so that they could maintain a constant stream of chatter. Their topics were anything and everything, including the things they were currently reading about on the human's World Wide Web. Frankly, Optimus really didn't want to know most of what they were talking about, but had held out hope that maybe they'd come up with something useful, or shut up. Ironhide had given in before Optimus, starting to ignore the channel some weeks ago. As far as the Prime knew, though, Ratchet was still enduring the chatter. He wished the medic luck.

Feeling his engine shift down, Optimus returned his attention to the human driving him, and saw that she was digging in her bag in the passenger seat with one hand, probably searching for whatever was currently playing a different, and somewhat poor quality, song than the stereo. She pulled out a cell phone a few moments later, and glanced at it briefly before putting it back on the seat and shifting down some more, pulling off to the side of the road and braking. On the seat, the phone continued its tune, clashing with the stereo until the woman turned it off. She picked up the phone again and this time flipped it open, answering.

"Hey George, what's the news?" she asked cheerily. The voice on the other end was muffled by her ear, so Optimus couldn't hear it without hacking into the signal. It wouldn’t be hard, but he didn’t feel particularly inclined to intrude on her private phone call, even if she wouldn’t know he was listening. "What? No. You're kidding." Optimus reconsidered hacking into the signal as the woman's face went white, her mood and tone instantly dropping, but inevitably decided against it again.

"There's got to be something they can do!...Dammit George, that's my dad's truck, you know that! I don't care what it costs!...And?...Who owns the truck, you or me?...George..." The woman's voice had become threatening. "Fine, I'll sleep on it, but the answer will be the same tomorrow!...Don't think that'll change my mind. This thing may be in good condition, but it has a god-awful paint job!" Optimus grumbled to himself - he rather liked the paint job. "Yes, I can and I will!...Don't 'women' me...Fine, fine! Sheesh. I'll call you tomorrow when I stop, alright?...Right, bye." The woman violently hung up the phone and hurled it in the general direction of her bag. She scowled at it a few moments before slamming a fist down on Optimus' steering wheel.

"Great, just great," she growled to herself, glaring out the windshield. She sat there, scowling, for a few more minutes, before slamming Optimus back into gear and heading out. She didn't turn the stereo back on, and Optimus found it hard to recapture his former enjoyment of the day without the music and with his scowling driver now being a lot rougher with the controls.

Optimus wondered what had happened - since he'd decided to stay at the depot, he'd seen only the manager, George, and the occasional driver who'd been brought back to see him in the first couple of weeks. He had been somewhat surprised, therefore, when George brought this woman back and handed her the keys. Actually, he'd been half in recharge at the time, so he hadn't caught the woman's name, and had yet to see a piece of her identification, hear her introduce herself, or be referred to by name by someone else. It was a little disconcerting not knowing the name of the human driving him, but he had figured he would find out in good time.

Now, though, he decided to speed up the process by doing a bit of a search on the web, to see if he could discover anything about her and what about her father's truck might cause her such distress. The search kept him thoroughly distracted, as it turned out to be rather difficult to find information on a person when you hardly knew anything about them. Without thinking, he turned on the Autobots communications channel to ask Bumblebee if he could find anything, and was immediately reminded why it had been off.

 _"...osedly is a very entertaining pursuit, though too many people doing it can ruin it_ ," Sideswipe was saying.

 _"Really? Why would humans find that entertaining? Don't they have other, better things to do_?" Bumblebee asked.

 _"Of course they do,"_ Sideswipe replied _. "But apparently GoogleWhacking is one of those things they do to relieve boredom when they sadly have no one around to play pranks on."_

 _"Yes, speaking of that, you should stop almost hitting Trent, Sides..."_ Bumblebee's voice cut out as Optimus turned off the channel. If he'd been in his mech form, he would have shaken his head. He had no idea what this 'GoogleWhacking' was, nor did he want to know.

Sideswipe almost hitting Trent's vehicle was a bit of a concern, but Optimus knew the other Autobot would never actually hit the boy. He didn't need to, not after Trent's run-in with Bumblebee after he had tried to get violent with first Sam, and then Mikaela. All Sideswipe had to do was make sure Trent saw there was no driver in the Lamborghini that had just about hit him, and the boy would be more scared than if Megatron himself was standing over him. Optimus himself had given the boy a good scare by just about running him off the road in truck mode - he had seen the black eye Sam had come back from school with thanks to Trent.

Sighing, Optimus returned his attention to his web search, ignoring a little flick of annoyance as the woman driving him was once again a little rough with his controls. He contemplated blaring his stereo at her, if only to give her something less upsetting and violence-causing to think about than whatever was bothering her. He decided not to bother, though, focussing on his fruitless search for her across the web.

\---

That evening when Alex stopped, she found the nearest bar and got completely plastered. It was a trucker bar, seedy and dimly lit, and fit her mood perfectly. Best of all, most of the patrons understood and commiserated entirely when she drunkenly rambled to them. Not that they stayed long, even if they understood. A drunk and depressed trucker could only be tolerated for so long, after all.

The first thing Alex remembered when she woke up the next morning, after she amanaged to get past the raging hangover, was a guy whose name she couldn't remember helping her into bed, and she jerked upright. Panic flew through her for a moment as she scrambled to check for her keys and money, cursing herself for being so stupid. Amazingly, all her things were still there, and even better, she was still wearing her clothes from last night.

She decided with a grunt that she'd been excessively lucky to have found a random nice guy, then flopped back onto the bed and curled up. No more than two seconds later, the phone rang - the hotel, giving her the wake-up call she'd requested. Alex groaned, rolled out of bed, and got ready for what was likely to be a terrible day.

It was the first of many, as Alex exercised the only sure-fire cure to a hangover at her next stop - drinking more. And the next night, and the next - it was a full week before Alex stopped, and then it was only because she was two days out from her destination and wanted to be completely sober and hangover-free when she dealt with city driving.

Her clear head meant that she finally started thinking about her dad's truck, and the ride back was one of the most depressing of her life - even more so when, two days out from Tranquility, she finally remembered that George had asked her to call him. Cursing to herself, she pulled over and pulled out her cell, only to stop and sigh. There was little point in phoning now, when she was almost home.

\---

Alex jumped out of the truck cab and slammed the door with more force than necessary. She headed straight for the depot office, and George was outside waiting for her when she got there.

"You didn't call," he said sternly when she approached.

"I was a little busy getting piss-ass drunk," Alex replied flatly. George frowned disapprovingly at her. "Yeah yeah, I'll feel guilty as soon as you tell me the mechanics were mistaken and the truck can be fixed after all without it costing the same as getting a new truck altogether."

"Well you'll have to feel guilty without that. The mechanics towed your father's truck off to the junk yard two days ago."

"What?! Why -" Alex ended in a wordless snarl, and George arched an eyebrow.

"You weren't answering your phone, you weren't calling, I couldn't even get a message to you via CB - I know you're not stupid enough to turn that off - and the mechanics were grumbling about how long it was sitting in their lot. So they went with the only option they had," he said flatly. Alex scowled, shoving aside her guilt over the fact that she had actually turned off her CB – at first because it was loud and hurt her hangover, and then because she just wanted the quiet.

"Great. There aren’t even any truck dealerships here in Tranquility," she said after a moment. Truthfully, she'd known what was going to happen to her dad's truck from the moment George told her that it couldn't be fixed - she'd just gone straight into denial.

That was probably why she wasn’t as mad as she should be at George’s announcement. Despite the fact that he’d essentially ordered her livelihood scrapped without her approval, she knew that he’d only done what she’d been unable to do. He knew she had the money saved up for another truck, and he knew she was sentimental enough that she’d never be able to get rid of her father’s truck on her own. So he’d made the hard call for her.

Shaking her head, Alex sighed, shoulders slumping. George stepped over and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, giving her a half-hug.

"Tell ya what, darlin’ - if you can stomach the paint job, you can hand over $300 for the gas I filled that truck's tank with originally and I'll sign it over to you," he said gently, and Alex looked up at him in surprise.

"But -" she stopped as she remembered George's story of how he'd acquired the truck in the first place, knowing she couldn't protest because of the price. "You know I have the money to buy another truck. You don’t have to give me a new truck just because you told them to do what I couldn’t."

"Use that money to give it a new paint job," George said with a shake of his head. "I really have no use for the truck, unless this incident, god forbid, happens again. The only reason I hadn't sold it was that I was still trying to figure out what to do with it - and now I know." Alex glanced back at the truck. It did handle well, and she hadn't had a single mechanical problem with it on the entire trip. It had even handled her slight speeding on the way back without complaint.

"I don't know, George..." Alex trailed off as George glared at her.

"Alexandra Tabitha Morgan, you will take that truck," he ordered sternly. Alex arched an eyebrow, lips twitching in a smile.

"Oh really now," she said with amusement, and George continued to look at her sternly for a moment before grinning.

"Come on darlin', you can't deny the fact that you're enjoying having a Peterbilt 379. And as you said, there's no truck dealerships in town. It's a sweet deal."

"$300 for the gas, you say?" Alex said, turning back to the truck.

"More or less." 

"I think I can rustle that up," Alex replied with a grin.


	3. Yellow Camaros and Robot Genders

Alex cursed as the same police car from two blocks ago cut her off again. Didn't the damn officer know how dangerous it was to cut off a truck? And he kept slipping in and out of her blind spots! As if to echo Alex's frustration, the horn on her truck mysteriously sounded itself, and Alex groaned, waiting for the cop to signal her to pull over. To her surprise, the cop instead sped off without so much as a flashing light. Alex sighed in relief, then smacked the dashboard of the truck and scowled.

The truck had been good at first, but over the last month it had proven to have an impressive number of glitches - random things in the truck would turn on or off without any warning, and no matter how many mechanics she took it to, they couldn't find anything wrong with it. The only reason she hadn't decided to sell the truck was that none of the malfunctions were actually dangerous - they were all minor things, like the stereo failing as she entered city limits, or the windows rolling up after she'd turned on the air conditioning.

The malfunctions were mostly just disconcerting, but there was one very irritating side affect - every painter she'd taken the truck to had gotten spooked by them and refused to touch it. Alex didn't know if it was that people who chose to go into a career involving painting vehicles were more easily spooked, or if mechanics were just immune to the strange quirks of vehicles - what she did know was that she still had the tacky flame design.

Which, though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, was actually kind of growing on her.

Alex made a gleeful noise as she spotted the turn-off to the highway she wanted - she hadn't seen the police car since the truck's horn had blared on its own, but she wouldn't let herself relax until she was finally out of the bugger's jurisdiction. Not that being out of the city would stop the cop if he had a problem with her, but at least then she'd know he did and be able to call him on it. Fortunately, however, the cop was nowhere to be seen as she drove down the highway, heading east. Alex couldn't be more grateful, as she was supposed to be in Tranquility this evening for supper, courtesy of Josh.

Reaching over, she flicked on the stereo again - which had mysteriously shut itself off when she'd entered the city limits again - and smiled as her Rolling Stones CD began playing once more, then cranked up the bass. She'd discovered awhile ago that the truck had an excellent bass speaker somewhere - she had yet to discover where - and so for a change, she could be one of those annoying drivers who you could feel their stereo before you could see them. It was somehow more intimidating in a truck, too. She swore she'd scared the piss out of some poor sports car driver when he'd finally realized who he'd been having a bass-war with at an intersection during one of those rare times the stereo hadn't gone on the fritz inside a city.

She stopped for lunch at a truck stop with a restaurant six hours out of Tranquility. As she was eating, she watched with amusement as a yellow Camaro with black racing stripes pulled into the lot and parked beside the trucks, its driver obviously not realizing that cars were supposed to park elsewhere to avoid any unpleasant accidents. Of course, when the driver stepped out, Alex understood - he couldn't be more than 18, probably thought he owned the parking lot.

Well, maybe not - he didn't swagger as Alex would have expected him to on his way over to the restaurant, and actually waited to be seated as the sign asked. The hostess seated him at the table next to Alex, and when she heard that he was actually polite, she reconsidered her opinion of him - he was probably just ignorant of the parking rules of truck stops. So Alex decided to do him a favour and let him know.

"Cars don't usually park with the trucks, y'know. 'Specially not ones that small. They might get scratched...or worse," Alex said conversationally to the back of the teen's head. He turned around and arched an eyebrow.

"I always thought that truck drivers had to be really good in order to handle such clunky vehicles. Or was that a threat for parking too near your truck?" he asked, and Alex arched an eyebrow in return. The boy had balls. Or a suicide wish.

"No, just thought I'd let you know. Personally, I'd be extra careful just because I don't want my paint scratched. Damn painters keep refusing to paint over the tacky flame decal, so I don't think they'd be willing to fix any chips, either," Alex said somewhat irritably.

"Flame...?" The teenager seemed to choke for a moment, his eyes flicking out the window to her truck. "So that's _your_ truck that I parked beside?" he asked in a strange tone, sounding almost as if he was trying desperately to avoid laughing, and Alex gave him a strange look.

"You see any other truck in the lot with that god-awful decal?" she asked.

"Uh - no, of course not," the teen replied hastily, then was rescued from further questioning by the waitress coming to take his order. Once she was gone, he twisted around again. "So how long have you had that truck?" Alex eyed him suspiciously - why the hell did he want to know that? Alex shook her head - the teen had already proved himself to be polite, maybe he thought he needed to make polite conversation with her now.

"About a month."

"How's it running for you?" the teen asked, and Alex frowned slightly.

"Good. Got some weird glitches, but doesn't every vehicle?" she said, and then decided to turn the tables on him. "What about your car? Looks a little fancy for someone your age."

"Yeah, my parents would agree with you there. My mom thinks I'm gonna crash it, and my dad thinks I don't know how to take care of it," the teen said with a chuckle.

"And?" Alex asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Haven't yet and I've learned fast," he answered promptly, sounding a bit rehearsed. "I've had it for about six months now, too - ever since some army ranger commandeered and crashed my first piece of crap Camaro in that whole...thing in Mission City, then got the government to replace it with this one."

"You were in Mission City during that big disaster?" Alex asked, suddenly interested.

"Yeah, went up there to visit a few friends...then, next thing I know, there's an army ranger pulling me out of my car and telling me it's just been commandeered," the teen said with a shrug. "Next time I see it, it's pretty much got its back half blown off. Had a hell of a time getting home."

"I imagine. So was it really some sort of advanced technology that caused all that damage?" Alex asked intently.

"That's what the government says. I didn't really get a good look at anything - I just followed the crowds once my car had been commandeered. Figured I didn't want to be that idiot in the movies that always gets killed just because he didn't think there was any danger," the teen replied with a wry grin.

"Huh," Alex replied with a frown, and then resumed eating as the waitress brought the teen's food out. Except for exchanging goodbyes when Alex left, she and the teenager said no more to each other, not even getting each other's names. Alex doubted she'd see him again, anyways.

Climbing into her truck, she found Elvis crooning softly on the radio, and she rolled her eyes before hauling a foot up to kick it. The stereo flipped back to her CD and usual volume, and Alex nodded in satisfaction before starting the engine and pulling out, being careful not to nick the boy's Camaro. Out on the highway, Alex elected to turn off the air conditioning and open the window, turning the music to a volume just loud enough to be heard over the rushing of air. She could only hear a vague murmur from the CB that way, but it was enough that she could listen for it and turn the music down when needed.

Cruising down the highway, happy to be heading home, with music playing and wind rushing in her ears, it was no wonder Alex didn't hear the jet engines until their owner decided to buzz her. The stereo once again mysteriously shut itself off just in time for her to start swearing as she braked. She reached for the CB, planning to turn it to a military frequency and give the F-22 pilot a piece of her mind, but she noticed to her consternation that the radio was off again, and when she tried to flip it back on, the switch was stuck. Alex frowned, then froze as she felt the truck shift down, the wheel turning in her hand as if it had a will of its own. The truck swerved to the left, braking as it went, until it came to a complete stop facing the opposite direction as it had previously been going. Amazingly, neither truck nor trailer had tipped over.

"What the...?" Alex started, then yelped as the truck suddenly roared to life again and took off back the way it had come. She gave in and screamed as the jet buzzed the truck again, this time flying close enough for Alex to pick out the hatches on the bottom of it where the landing gear came out. Wildly, Alex thought that the pilot must have been freaking crazy to fly that close to the ground, let alone around a truck going at - Alex glanced down at the speedometer and her eyes widened: the needle was pressing against the right side of the dial, obviously beyond the maximum speed listed.

"Ooooh god," Alex moaned. "The painters were right, this truck IS possessed!" As if her words were a signal, the truck slammed on the brakes, and Alex jerked forward, only barely avoiding cracking her head on the steering wheel. Hearing the squeal of tires, she pulled her head up to look in the side mirrors, and saw the trailer and truck both sliding on the highway, brakes locked up. Then she looked out the windshield, and that was when she knew something very, very strange was going on, because the cop from the city was heading straight for her, followed by...the yellow Camaro?

Alex blinked in surprise for a moment, before shaking herself and taking stock of the situation. It didn't take much to figure out that at the speed both her truck and the two oncoming cars were going, neither would be able to stop before crashing, especially with the truck's brakes locked up. So, trying not to think about just how much it was going to hurt, Alex popped her seatbelt, opened the truck door, and threw herself out.

She hit the side of the road and let out a roar of pain as she felt her shoulder dislocate as she slid along the ground. When she stopped, she tensed, waiting for the burning sensation bound to come from the scrapes her entire left side had just endured, and wasn't disappointed, gritting her teeth against another roar of pain. When it subsided to a mere throb, she levered herself up on her elbows to see just how much of a mess her truck was. What she saw make her blink - twice - before rubbing her eyes to be sure she wasn't seeing things.

Her truck was gone, the trailer propped up on the side of the road, and the police car and Camaro were nowhere to be seen. In their place, three giant freaking robots were having an all-out brawl, which, even as Alex watched, was joined by the F-22 that had buzzed her. What was even more disturbing was that the F-22 didn't just buzz the robots and shoot - no, it made as if to land a short ways off from the brawling robots, then began changing, it's parts rearranging themselves until it looked somewhat like the other robots. It landed on its feet with a heavy thud that Alex could feel even as far away as she was, then it started exchanging blows with the biggest of the other robots.

With a sinking feeling after seeing what the F-22 had just done, Alex took a closer look at the other three robots. She tried to deny her suspicions when she saw the yellow and black color of the first robot, stubbornly insisted that it wasn't possible when she saw 'POLICE' written in bold letters on the arm of the second robot - and gave in and admitted defeat when she saw the flame decal on the third robot that the former F-22 was fighting.

Her truck had turned into a giant robot.

\---

Optimus was more than a little surprised when Alexandra launched herself out of his driver's side door - he'd thought humans were a little too fragile for that type of maneuver - but was glad that she'd done it, as it allowed him to transform in time to take on Barricade. Behind the Decepticon, Bumblebee screeched to a halt and ejected Sam before transforming as well. He could hear the scout instruct Sam to go check on Alexandra, and thus pushed her out of his mind for the duration of the fight, knowing Bumblebee's charge would explain things to her.

 _"There's a Seeker as well,"_ Optimus informed the smaller Autobot over comms as he took a swing at Barricade, which the Decepticon barely dodged.

 _"Starscream left?"_ Bumblebee replied questioningly as he came at Barricade from behind.

 _"It's not him,"_ Optimus answered as he knocked Barricade off balance with a punch. The Decepticon grabbed Bumblebee to keep himself upright, and then tried to swing the smaller Autobot around to use as a shield against Optimus. He got a point-blank shot from Bumblebee's cannon in his foot for the attempt.

Optimus used Barricade's subsequent distraction scrapping with Bumblebee to get in a few shots at the Seeker, now coming around for another pass. Whoever it was roared a few very impolite things at him in Cybertronian before landing and transforming. The quality of the insults, being roughly equivalent to something Sideswipe would come up with, clued Optimus in as to what particular Seeker he was dealing with.

"A pleasure seeing you again, Skywarp," the Prime said, and in response, Skywarp smashed his fist into Optimus' chest, sending him staggering back a few dozen feet. The fight began in earnest after that - Barricade and Skywarp weren't the heaviest hitters the Decepticons had, but with Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Ratchet over an hour away at top speed, Optimus and Bumblebee were fighting without any hope for quick backup, and no reprieve - which meant they needed to finish this quickly, before one of the Decepticons got in a lucky punch or cannon shot.

It wasn't long before Skywarp realized he still wasn’t a match for Optimus on the ground, and began using his powers of flight and teleportation to his advantage. He'd dive-bomb Optimus then teleport out of reach, being just enough of a nuisance that Optimus couldn't help Bumblebee dispose of Barricade. Not that Bumblebee needed help - the smaller Autobot had let the enforcer go once before on Earth, but he seemed set to finish the job now.

Seeing that, Optimus decided that Bumblebee could hold his own, and turned his full attention to Skywarp. Once again taking a page out of the twin's handbook for dealing with flying opponents, Optimus did the same to Skywarp as he'd done with Megatron in Mission City. As Skywarp approached for another dive-bomb, the Prime leapt into the air and grabbed on. Skywarp was not as large as Megatron, of course, and faltered under having Optimus' weight clinging to him.

Fortunately, repeated instances of jet judo by the twins over the course of the war had proven that Skywarp couldn’t teleport with another mech clinging to him, so this had the added advantage of limiting Skywarp’s use of that particular talent. Instead, Skywarp resorted to the same methods he and his wingmates used when one of the twins jumped on them. He jerked from side to side, trying to shake Optimus off, went as close to the ground as he dared, trying to scrape Optimus off, and did repeated barrel-rolls trying to loosen Optimus’s grip.

The Prime was not one to be shaken off, though - unlike the twins, he wasn’t busy trying to rip out Skywarp’s insides as he clung to him. He was just clinging, period – to be honest, he wasn’t all that fond of flying. Which only made it worse when Skywarp got tired of trying to shake Optimus off, and instead took off up into the atmosphere at top speed.

The seeker's engines strained as he forced them to lift nearly double his weight, but he didn't slow down, apparently hoping that the rapid ascent would finally pull Optimus off of him. The Prime had a remarkable ability to cling when terrified, however, and being that far up with nothing to catch him was certainly terrifying. Still, he managed to pry one hand loose so that he could ram it through the Seeker's canopy, into his cockpit, where Optimus could yank at sensitive internals.

Skywarp screamed in pain as he tumbled back towards the ground. The scream quickly turned into one of rage as he overcame the shock to his systems, and the Seeker straightened out his flight before transforming mid-air. It was a risky maneuver, exposing vulnerable internals, but either Skywarp didn’t care, or he knew that Optimus would be too concerned with trying not to fall off to take advantage. Skywarp had never been the brightest of Seekers, however, with a notoriously one-track processor, so it was more likely that the risk just hadn't occured to him.

Right now, Skywarp seemed to be focussed on paying Optimus back for the damage to his cockpit. The Prime did his best to fend the Seeker off – while still holding on, because hitting the ground from this altitude would hurt (and would undoubtedly earn him a lecture from Ratchet about learning combat tactics from the twins). Fortunately, for all Skywarp’s one-track processor, he was still a Seeker, and concious of where he was in the air – and of the fact that they were now free-falling.

Optimus could tell they were nearing the ground when the Seeker’s attention was suddenly diverted from fight to flight, and as Optimus clung gratefully to Skywarp, not even trying to take advantage of the Decepticon’s distraction, he was surprised to hear a human yelling. As Skywarp slowed and steadied their decent, Optimus glanced down to see Alexandra and Sam standing no more than 20 feet away from where Bumblebee was severely beating Barricade, who...was standing on Alexandra's trailer. Optimus grimaced slightly before turning his attention back to Skywarp – Major Lennox was going to love explaining to the government why they needed to pay for that.

As they were nearing the ground at an acceptable pace now, Optimus and Skywarp’s brief truce ended, and the Prime got in a few last punches before leaping off the Seeker. He hit the ground heavily, but rolled with it, coming back up to his feet easily. As annoying as Skywarp was when fully mobile, Optimus didn’t particularly want to go for another trip into the upper atmosphere again. Skywarp seemed to be of the same opinion, and since he’d already discovered he was no match for Optimus on the ground, he for once did the sensible thing.

Taking a few pot shots at Optimus as he hovered mid-air, Skywarp teleported over to Barricade, interposing himself between the enforcer and Bumblebee. The force of the displaced air from his teleportation knocked Bumblebee back a bit, just far enough that Skywarp could grab Barricade and take off at high speed, fluids and loose parts from Barricade trailing in their wake.

Optimus shook his head, turning his attention to Bumblebee, who was cursing rather fluidly and uttering some rather dire threats to Barricade’s spark. Optimus put a hand on the smaller Autobot's shoulder, and he quieted, though his was clearly unhappy about Barricade getting away again.

With the battle over, Optimus turned his attention to Alexandra - who, as soon as he laid eyes on her, showed him her middle finger (a gesture he'd learned to interpret very quickly after his arrival on Earth) and started walking down the highway towards Tranquility. Optimus sighed - he'd known it was likely that she'd be irritated when she found out, but he'd hoped it wouldn't be this bad. The destruction of her trailer probably hadn't helped.

"Sam?" he asked quietly, but the human boy shook his head and shrugged.

"She wouldn't listen to me," he said, and Optimus frowned. Yes, the destruction of her trailer definitely hadn't helped.

\---

After her realization that her truck was a giant robot, Alex wasn't even surprised when the kid from the truck stop approached her and offered a hand up.

"They're called Autobots, at least yours and mine -" he started, but Alex held up a hand as she watched the four giant robots fight, her trailer sitting precariously in the middle of them as they tore up the asphalt of the highway.

"I don't want to know," she said tiredly. "Not now. All I'm concerned about right now is how in hell I'm going to get that trailer to Tranquility by tonight with no truck and the highway torn up on either side of it."

"I'm sure Lennox can send some choppers to get it moved past the broken asphalt, and then you can just drive it into Tranquility," the teen said assuredly.

"With what?" Alex demanded. "My _truck_ is a _giant robot_."

"And he can change back into a truck once the fight is finished," was the patient reply. "If you'd let me explain -"

"Oh _hell_ no!" Alex stated. "I'm not driving a truck that's really a giant robot."

"Why not?" the teen asked, arching an eyebrow.

"How do I know it's -"

"He," the teen corrected her, and Alex stared at him before throwing her hands up in the air.

"Great, now it's got a gender," she growled, then frowned as she saw the F-22 reform and start dive-bombing the robot that had once been her truck. Fortunately 'her' truck seemed to know how to deal with this, as it - he, she corrected with mental sarcasm - jumped up just as the jet was approaching and grabbed on, going along for the ride while continuing to beat on the jet.

"At least there's no building for him to be dragged through this time," the teen observed as he saw that happen.

"This time?" Alex couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Mission City," the teen replied succinctly, and Alex blinked. "They _are_ advanced technology, and one of them _did_ get away from the government." He grinned, and Alex glared at him, silently telling him to shut up, because she still didn't want to hear, her momentary curiosity over with. There was a moment of silence, save for the sound of metal hitting metal as the robots battled, then the teen introduced himself. "I'm Sam Witwicky, by the way," he introduced himself, holding out a hand.

"Alex Morgan," Alex grudgingly replied, giving his hand a brief shake as she watched the jet, the once-her-truck robot still holding on, take off upwards into the atmosphere. When they were too small for her to discern any details, she looked back to the other two robots, and noticed nervously that the one that had been a police car was getting beaten back towards her trailer.

In one of the split-second stupid decisions that the Morgan family was known for - or Alex was known for, at least - she decided to go see to the safty of her trailer. She ran towards the battling robots, Sam following behind her, yelling at her to stop. Alex didn’t listen, picking up a small chunk of asphalt as she scrambled onto the side of the highway. Pulling her arm back, she chucked the asphalt with all her strength at the police-car robot, and to her surprise it looked down at her with irritation.

"Hey, stay away from my trailer, y'hear me?" she yelled, but the robot didn't seem to care, returning to his fight with the robot that had once been Sam's camaro. Growling in irritation, Alex picked up another chunk of asphalt and tried again, this time with the once-camaro. She was again ignored. More irritated than ever as the robots moved even closer to her trailer, Alex picked up an even larger piece of asphalt and tried once more - but unfortunately, just as she went to throw the piece of highway at the robots, the once-camaro delivered a blow to the once-police-car that sent it tumbling to the ground - right on top of Alex.

She screamed as it came crashing down on top of her, and kept screaming even once she realized that by some miracle a part of the robot that had enough room for a human to stand in had landed on top of her. She screamed not only from fear, but because she thought she was being electrocuted as blue energy crackled around and through her. The panicked thought that she was so going to beat the crap out of Sam's camaro if she ended up losing her hair from this crossed her mind, but was quickly gone as the robot was pulled off her after only a few seconds. Her scream abruptly ended, and she sat down on the asphalt with a thump, eyes wide.

"Hey, you OK?" Sam asked with concern, scrambling over to where she was, and Alex nodded dumbly. Slowly, she turned her gaze up to the two robots, who were fighting again, and her eyes widened even further as she saw that they were now almost stepping on her trailer. She scrambled to her feet, but even if she could have done something, she was too late. She watched in seeming slow motion as the police car robot’s foot smashed into the side of her trailer, tipping it over.

Alex felt the frayed remains of her temper snap as she started cursing and throwing whatever was at hand at the robots. They didn’t seem to notice one bit, continuing to battle amid the now destroyed contents of her trailer. Well, it was more the camaro robot beating the shit out of the police car robot than an actual battle, but still.

Then the police car robot was gone, yanked away by the jet robot, and the suddeness of it made Alex pause in surprise, a rock still clutched in one hand to throw. In her stead, the camaro cursed after the retreating robots – or at least that’s what Alex assumed it was doing, judging from the way it was yelling after them, albeit in a language she'd never heard before.

Then the camaro fell quiet as the robot that had once been Alex’s truck put a hand on its shoulder, and Alex looked up at the flame-decalled robot. Seeming to sense her gaze, it looked back down at her. Without knowing or caring if it would understand the gesture, she calmly flipped it the bird before starting the walk to Tranquility. No way in hell was she getting in either her truck or the yellow camaro after what she'd just seen. Not even to get her bag and cellphone out of the truck, if either had even survived.

Of course, it wasn't long before she heard the rumble of an engine, and 'her' truck rolled up beside her, matching her pace. Alex ignored it. And she ignored Sam as he and his camaro replaced the truck after a little while and he tried to talk to her. She ignored them all the way back to Tranquility, where she found the nearest payphone and, glad that she was in the habit of keeping spare change in her pocket, phoned her sister for a pick-up. Fortunately, the camaro and truck were both gone when Beth got there.

"What happened, Alex? You look horrible," Beth said with concern as she drove.

"Bit of an accident on the road. Truck's totalled," Alex said flatly.

"Oh no, are you alright? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?" Beth immediately worried, and as if her words had triggered it, Alex's side began burning again from where she'd scraped it, and her shoulder let her know with a wave of white-hot pain that it was still dislocated.

"Uh, that might be best, actually," she said with a grimace. "I jumped out before the actual crash itself, but sliding along the ground kind of hurt." Beth pulled the car over and flicked on the light, obviously deciding she needed to do a closer inspection of her sister.

"Look at me," she ordered, and Alex complied. Beth moved her finger around in front of Alex's eyes, and then leaned in to take a close look at them. "Well, you don't seem to be in shock, fortunately."

"I’m too mad to go into shock. My trailer was smashed to hell. The truck ended up being fine, but those random glitches I told you about from before are out of hand now," Alex replied calmly, and Beth nodded, pulling back onto the road and heading for the hospital.

The rest of the trip was silent as Alex sat back and brooded about what to do now - she needed to buy a new truck now, and someone was going to have to pay for that trailer, since she doubted the company she'd been hauling it for had giant robot insurance. At least Alex still had the money she'd been saving to buy a new truck - but there were still no dealerships in Tranquility, which meant she was going to have to fly out to another city. Or maybe hitch a ride with another trucker that wanted some company, if she could find one going the right way. She did know a few good dealerships where the salesmen wouldn't give her a hard time, she’d just have to get to them.

Just as long as that damn truck and the kid and his camaro stayed away from her.


	4. Paranoia and Gigglefits

After following Alex at her walking pace all the way back to Tranquility, Optimus finally gave in and left her alone for the night. He hoped she just needed some time to adjust and cool down before she'd let him explain. For now, he headed off to the lookout, where Ratchet had met Bumblebee to fix up the scout's wounds from his battle with Barricade. The twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, had joined them to hear about the battle and generally make nuisances of themselves, as they were best at.

Arriving at the lookout, Optimus found Bumblebee in the middle of describing how he'd been defeating Barricade, but the smaller Autobot stopped as soon as Optimus pulled in and transformed to his bipedal form. Ratchet immediately came over and began checking the Prime over.

"So Skywarp’s here?" Sideswipe asked after a moment of heavy silence.

"Yes," Optimus replied.

"It was only a matter of time before more Decepticons started showing up," Bumblebee said with a shrug.

"As long as they don't arrive at a faster pace than the rest of the Autobots out there, I don't really mind," Sideswipe replied with a shrug.

"You should," Optimus rumbled. "We've been fortunate in that only one of our battles with the Decepticons has taken place in a highly populated area, but thousands of humans died in that one. The more Decepticons and Autobots that come to Earth, the greater the chance that our battles will result in human deaths."

"The humans are crawling all over this planet. We’re not gonna be able to find many uninhabited battlefields," Sunstreaker pointed out sourly.

"That doesn't mean we can't try to minimize casualties," Ratchet said sharply, looking up from Optimus's repairs.

"No, it doesn't. In fact, I'm ordering all of you to try and minimize human casualties when fighting the Decepticons. You are not to engage any Decepticon while in a highly populated area - either lead them to a more secluded place and fight there, or let them go," Optimus ordered, echoing the order over comms to those not physically present. There were immediate protests, but Optimus silenced them with a stern look. "This is not our planet - we're fortunate that the government of this country has accepted our presence, and our war. The least we can do is try not to kill them accidentally because of it."

"When you put it that way..." Sideswipe said wryly. Optimus gave the warrior an amused look, then peered over his own shoulder, where Ratchet was fiddling with some of his armor plating.

"Have you finished, Ratchet?" he asked, knowing the medic could spend hours fixing all the little dents and dings on each of his fellow Autobots if given the chance.

"Essentially," the medic replied grouchily.

"Good. I have someone to go...haunt, I believe the humans call it," Optimus said with a small smile.

"Alex?" Bumblebee asked, and Optimus nodded. "Why not just let her go? She obviously doesn't want to know."

"She may want to once she has calmed down - and besides, she's a very good driver," Optimus replied, transforming back into his truck form.

"Sam doesn't seem to think she'll want to hear no matter how long she has to calm down," Bumblebee said.

"Ah, let Optimus entertain himself, Bee," Sunstreaker said snarkily, and Optimus purposefully nicked the Autobot as he drove off. Sunstreaker immediately began grumbling about the damage to his paint job, whining for Ratchet to fix it.

\---

It was a week before Alex left Tranquility, and the robot-vehicles haunted her the entire time. She kept catching glimpses of the yellow camaro during the day, while moving around the city, and every time she looked out the window at night, the truck was parked outside. It was irritating, and somewhat freaky, especially when George told her that an anonymous someone had paid for the goods and trailer that had been wrecked in the robot brawl. She decided not to question that, instead just speeding up her plans to leave.

Alex was more than happy to finally get on a plane and leave Tranquility for Boston, where she bought a Peterbilt 387 without much trouble, and then resumed her job with every intent to avoid Tranquility for several months. Not that it did her much good, as 'her' old truck seemed to be quite handily following her - she'd been free of it for the first few days, but then it found her again. She only caught glimpses here and there, but it was impossible to mistake the truck.

Alex found herself growing paranoid, glancing in her mirrors far more than necessary, barely able to get a full night's sleep, constantly getting up to peek out the window, always seeing the Peterbilt 379 sitting out there, waiting. Finally, at Beth's badgering, Alex decided to return to Tranquility - she was already being stalked by her old truck (something she had a feeling her father would have found hilarious when he was alive) so what difference would being in Tranquility make?

Apparently a lot.

Alex knew something was wrong when George woke her up at four in the morning and told her she'd better get down to the depot, but she didn't worry overly much - the depot had video cameras and night staff for late-night truckers, after all. So she hadn't quite been prepared for what she saw when she got down to the depot.

"Oh god," she said as the taxi driver pulled up, her eyes wide. "Stay here," she told the driver as she climbed out and walked slowly towards her truck. George walked up beside her as she approached, giving her a sympathetic look.

"We don't know what happened - all the security cameras shorted out at the same time, and by the time the night staff got out here, it was like this," George said. Alex didn't reply, just stared mournfully at her now door- and hoodless truck. The doors and hood were resting on the back of the truck, the glass in the windows unbroken, but with dents in the metal. It didn't take much for Alex to pick out the shape of a massive robot finger in the dent. Cursing, she kicked the rear wheel of the truck.

"I'm sorry, darlin'," George said sympathetically. "Maybe you just oughtta take the rest of the year off - it seems to be a bad year for you to be trucking." Alex frowned, but knew what he meant. Going through three trucks in one year was a bit ridiculous - not that this one was a complete write-off like the other two, but it would take the mechanics time to fix it, and she was only supposed to be in Tranquility for the night, having a trailer that still needed to go east.

"God, it's way too early to deal with this," Alex said after a moment, covering her eyes with one hand. Truthfully, if it wasn't for the lack of sleep recently, it wouldn't have been hard for her to get up at 4 am and deal with this, but with circumstances as they were, she could barely think beyond _'Truck wrecked. This is bad.'_

"Why don't you go home and get a few more hours sleep? I'll get it taken to the mechanics in the mornin', and you can come in when you're rested and we can see about gettin' your trailer on the road again," George said soothingly, obviously noticing how wiped Alex was.

"Yeah," Alex said with a tired nod. "Yeah, that sounds good." She said goodbye, returning to the waiting taxi. Climbing in, she told the driver to take her back home, leaning her head back.

The taxi driver had to shake her awake when he got to Beth’s house, and she sleepily paid him for the trip, giving him a rather large tip, then headed for the house. She walked past the Peterbilt resting calmly out front without really noticing it at first. When she reached the front door though, Alex stopped, turning to look at the truck. The taxi was already gone, and no one else on the block was awake at this time, so Alex only hesitated a moment before walking up to the truck and looking at it for a long moment.

"You're one stubborn bastard, you know that?" she told it. After a pause, there was a click, and the passenger side door slowly swung open. Alex stared at it, then sighed. She'd tried ignoring it, and apparently that wasn't going to work. So she might as well give in and hear what it had to say. With the feeling that she'd regret this later, Alex climbed into the cab and pulled the door shut.

\---

"This is so creepy." Optimus didn't even try and understand why Alexandra found the situation creepy - Sam had once tried to explain to the Autobots why it was odd to sit in a vehicle that was driving itself, but none of them had understood. Optimus doubted that Alexandra would be able to explain it any better than Sam, especially considering how tired she was. He hadn't meant to cause her to lose sleep, but he did want to explain things to her at the very least.

But not in truck form. From what he understood of human psychology, they needed to hear about 'giant alien robots' from a 'giant alien robot' and not their vehicle, otherwise it would never seem quite real to them. So he was taking Alexandra to the lookout, the one place around Tranquility where the Autobots felt safe enough to transform.

Alexandra seemed somewhat surprised when he pulled to a stop, but was almost insultingly eager to scramble out when he opened his door for her. He let his horn honk in annoyance, causing her to jump, before he transformed into his humanoid form. Looking down, he saw Alexandra staring up at him with wide eyes, before abruptly sitting down and putting her head in her hands. Optimus crouched down, bringing his face as close to hers as he could.

"Alexandra," he said, keeping his voice low, and she looked up, startled.

"How -" she seemed unable to finish the question.

"George," Optimus replied anyways, and watched as Alexandra took a moment to think about that, before realizing what he meant - when George had insisted she take Optimus, he'd used her full name.

"So," Alexandra said, taking a deep breath, then looked at Optimus and cocked her head to one side. "Autobots?" Optimus cycled his optics in mild surprise.

"Sam said you wouldn't listen," he said musingly.

"He got that much out before I stopped him," Alexandra said with a shrug, and then frowned as she looked at Optimus' body. "Is that in any way comfortable?" Optimus glanced down at the way he'd had to twist to get his face so close to hers.

"Something might seize up if I stay like this for too long, but Ratchet can always fix it."

"Ratchet?" Alexandra blinked uncomprehendingly.

"Another Autobot, our medic."

"Another...? How many of you are there?" Alexandra asked, seeming alarmed.

"Here on Earth? Only six. We don't know how many more are scattered throughout the galaxy," answered Optimus, the last part added sadly, then waited for the implications of that statement to sink in.

"So what, you're aliens?" Alexandra squeaked. Optimus nodded and began his explanation about Cybertron, and how it was lost, before telling her about the Allspark and the battle for it here on Earth. Overall, Alexandra seemed to take it quite well, and when Optimus was done, she stood and walked to the edge of the lookout, allowing the large Autobot to straighten himself.

He watched Alexandra for a moment, but decided that there was nothing more to be said, and returned to his truck form, letting his driver's side door hang open in invitation for when she turned around. It took her almost an hour to do so, and she seemed uncertain about climbing in at first, but went ahead after a brief shake of her head. She reached to start his engine, and then stopped with a blink.

"Keys," she said, and Optimus mentally berated himself for forgetting before starting the engine himself. He'd find out where the keys had gotten to later. Alexandra, fortunately, seemed to take the lack of keys in stride once the engine was started, and drove him back to her sister's house, where she parked him out front in his usual spot. She climbed out, then hesitated before muttering a soft "Good night...or good morning," and hurrying into the house.

Optimus locked his doors as he followed her on his sensors, waiting until she’d settled into bed and almost instantly fallen asleep before activating his own recharge. Though she hadn’t said anything during his explanation, he was confident that she wouldn’t run from him again.

\---

Alex woke late the next day to Beth pounding on her door, and hauled herself out of bed with a groan to pull open the door. Beth let out a mock scream as she saw Alex, who took a swipe at her. Beth skipped backwards out of reach with a laugh.

"George is on the phone for you, he seems to think you're late. And when did you get that 379 back? I thought you scrapped it after that accident?" Beth asked cheerily.

"Had it in a garage. Mechanics gave it a full rebuild to stop the malfunctions," Alex lied after a moment, surprised she could come up with an excuse that good when she was still this tired. Beth nodded, then pointed downstairs.

"George," she said as a reminder, knowing her sister well enough to know that Alex had already forgotten the first thing she'd said. Alex groaned, then staggered down the stairs and picked up the phone from where it rested on the counter.

"'Lo?" she mumbled into it.

 _"Alex?"_ George asked uncertainly.

"Know any other tired-ass truckers that live at this house?" Alex replied, slowly beginning to wake up. There was a low chuckle on the other end of the phone.

_"Not really. So are you going to come down here and help me figure out what to do with your trailer?"_

"Don’t really need to figure anything out," Alex replied after a beat, deciding to surprise George.

 _"Alex, darlin', I know you weren't very awake this morning, but if you'll recall, your truck ain't exactly in driving condition,"_ George said gently.

"My truck is in excellent condition!" Alex said, her tone both amused and mildly defensive as she glanced out the living room window to Optimus.

 _"Alex -"_ George went to try again, but Alex cut him off.

"Look, thanks for getting my sister to wake me up – totally slept through my alarm. Now I’m up, I'll see you in about half an hour, alright?" Alex said, then hung up as George tried one last time to tell her that her truck was in the shop. Alex smirked to herself as she went up the stairs two at a time, much more awake now.

It took her very little time to get ready to go, and when she got downstairs, Beth handed her a bagel and a can of Pepsi before telling her to have a safe drive. Alex acknowledged the comment with a wave, her mouth already full of bagel, then headed out to Optimus. His doors unlocked as she neared, and she climbed into the driver's seat, tossing her travel bag onto the passenger side. She didn't even have to prompt for keys this time, as the engine rumbled to life as soon as she closed the door.

"If you want to eat, I can drive." The voice Alex remembered so well from earlier that morning came out of the truck stereo, startling her so she almost dropped her bagel.

"Sure," Alex said after a beat, but still kept one hand on the wheel as Optimus drove himself to the depot. Alex watched with gleeful entertainment as George's eyes bugged out when he saw the truck, and she hopped down with a huge grin on her face.

"You said you scrapped it!" George said accusingly after a moment.

"I was ready to, but some hot-shot mechanic offered to do a complete rebuild to get rid of all those random malfunctions. I didn't find out until after you called me down here that they'd finished."

"Wait, so why did you get the other truck?" George asked in confusion.

"Didn't want to hang around my sister's house too long driving her crazy. She might've started making me pay bills or something," Alex said with an impish grin. George glared at her, and Alex laughed.

"So what're you goin' to do with the new truck now?" he asked in grumble.

"Sell it. I'm sure there's someone out there that wants a used 387," Alex replied promptly. George gave her an odd look.

"You're crazy, you know that?" he said, and Alex nodded.

"I figure I have to be, it's the only way my life makes sense anymore," she said wryly, thinking that George didn't even know the half of it. George just shook his head, then told her she'd better get moving. Alex agreed, climbing back into Optimus' cab and heading over to where she'd left her trailer.

It didn't take long to get the trailer hooked up - especially with Optimus helping, and she was going to let him know that she’d noticed that - then she headed out onto the highway. For once, she didn't turn on the stereo as she usually did, instead starting to think once she was out on the road.

"Do you prefer to drive?" she asked abruptly after about an hour.

"I don't mind either way," Optimus' replied via the stereo. "You're an excellent driver."

"Coming from a truck that I'm driving, that somehow means more than when my driving instructor told me the same," Alex said with amusement, and a low chuckle came over the stereo. "Though one does wonder why you felt the need to help with the trailer if I’m so good?"

"Merely speeding up the process. You were late getting up."

"And whose fault is that?" Alex said with a snort.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about."

Alex chuckled, deciding that maybe this would work after all. She’d been uncertain about everything after last night, even with the full explanation. Not because she would be riding around with an alien – no, more than that, the leader of an alien race, though he'd done his best to downplay that last night. Her reservations had been because at heart, she was a private person. She didn’t make friends quickly or easily, and she’d discovered early on that spending a lot of time around anyone – even Beth – tended to drive her bonkers. It was why trucking really was the perfect job for her.

Optimus, though, had backed off and let her think last night when she’d needed it. He'd given her space after his initial revelation before he started haunting her, too. Whether it was that month of quietly observing her when she didn’t know he was there or if he was just good with people, he seemed to know her fairly well already. And from what she’d heard from him so far, he seemed like the type of person she could get along with. So maybe he wouldn’t drive her bonkers.

Smiling faintly to herself, Alex shook her head and returned her full attention to driving. Optimus hadn’t commented on the lack of conversation from her, another notch in his favour. Of course, Alex realized that the biggest test was yet to come – music tastes. No way in hell was she giving up her classic rock, and if Optimus didn’t like it, well, she may just have to tell George that those malfunctions came back with a vengeance.

Smirking to herself, Alex was about to ask Optimus about putting on some good music – a test, to see what he’d put on – when he flipped on the stereo himself. She watched, bemused, as he flipped through far more than the usual stations on the radio until he found one playing Elvis. His choice caused her to grin as she remembered all the other times he’d randomly started playing Elvis before she’d found out what he was. She snickered once, and then she was laughing so hard that Optimus had to take over driving.

"Alexandra?" The music turned down so she could hear his confused query, and Alex paused, then continued giggling. There was another short pause, then the music returned to its previous volume. Optimus continued to drive until Alex regained control of herself and took back the steering wheel.

"You’re aware of the ridiculous number of jokes that can be made about you liking Elvis?"

"I’ve heard most of them. From my own Autobots," Optimus replied, sounding resigned to hearing them all again. That made Alex giggle again, but her fit of laughter didn't return as she drove down the highway in her truck...which was really an alien who liked to listen to Elvis.

Alex giggled again.


	5. Cliffjumper and Accidents

"So why did you rip the doors and hood off my new truck?" The question from Alexandra startled Optimus away from his reading into the laws and governments of the various political divisions of Earth, and he gratefully turned his attention away from France's constitution to answer her.

"You obviously weren't going to seek answers on your own," he replied.

"But still, disabling my truck?" Alexandra asked with puzzlement.

"It worked," Optimus pointed out.

"True. But why was it even so important that I knew?"

Optimus considered his reply for a few moments. "We are, for all intents and purposes, one of the greatest state secrets your country has. If you were allowed to roam without hearing the entire story, you might have inadvertently told someone about us who shouldn't have known."

"So I was a security leak?" Alexandra asked incredulously. "You stalked me for over two months because I was a security risk? Why not just call down government agents to explain it, or force the issue sooner? Didn't you think I might tell someone while you were busy stalking me?"

"I kept a close optic on you. And I find that the less government agents involved, the better things go for everyone."

"That sounds like a story and a half," Alexandra drawled.

"I’d tell you about it, but apparently I’m not even allowed to talk about it with those that were there for it," Optimus replied dryly. Ratchet’s biting, sarcastic responses to the agent that had informed them of that restriction were still sharp in the Prime’s memory, and he couldn’t help but laugh along with Alexandra. When they quieted, Alexandra seemed disinclined to continue the conversation, and Optimus turned on the stereo, forgoing the internet for now to just enjoy the silent company and good music.

Those first few days set the tone for the friendship that then developed between Optimus and Alexandra. Alexandra was used to silence on the road, and though Optimus had gotten used to that during his first month with her, he hadn’t expected it to last once she knew she had company. She wasn’t the type to make idle conversation though, and Optimus found himself appreciating her presence even more because of that. Most of those he spent time around wanted something from him – either as their Prime, or as the leader of their alien allies. Alexandra only had need of his physical presence however, and the requirement of physical labour and nothing else was relaxing.

They did speak, though. Alexandra made a point of greeting him in the morning and saying goodnight in the evening, and they’d occasionally comment to each other about something as they drove. She was remarkably helpful in pointing him in the right direction in his internet searches, and he returned the favour by using his satelite connection to find the easiest route to their destinations.

Once, Alexandra asked him about Cybertron, and he told her a few stories, the least painful ones. Another time, he asked her about her family, and she’d given him a brief, curt summary of the fates of her parents, turned fond when describing her sister Beth, then fallen quiet for the rest of the day. It didn't take more than that for the two of them to realize that they'd both prefer the past to stay in the past.

Of course, while Alexandra could simply enjoy Optimus’s company, the Prime himself had other duties while they drove. His Autobots needed his attention more frequently than seasoned warriors really should, and the American government seemed to need to speak with him at least once a day. They were still trying to figure out how to handle the Autobots, and the war they were bringing with them.

The government had at first believed that since Megatron and most of the Decepticons were dead, the war would end. Optimus had very gently informed them that there were many, many more Decepticons out there, and since Starscream had fled the planet, they would soon know of Megatron's defeat here. Some would then come looking for revenge - others would come to try and wipe out the world they now would see as a major obstacle in their own rise to power.

The Secretary of Defense, among others, had been less than pleased to hear that – and even less pleased to hear that there were also more Autobots out there, who would come to help fight off the Decepticons. That was when Optimus had learned the total death toll in Mission City - and he had a feeling that only his obvious shock and grief for the loss was what allowed the Autobots to stay past that time. The total had been more than the number of Autobots he merely hoped were still alive out in the galaxy.

Still, the American government insisted on being supplied with the names and descriptions of Autobots and known Decepticons on the planet. As stipulations went, it wasn’t that bad, and coupled with Ratchet's desire to learn more about human biology while willingly allowing himself to be studied, things were turning out nicely. The government had even allowed the Autobots to take over Sector Seven's old base inside Hoover Dam, since it was already set up to accomodate beings of their size.

They hadn't said a word, either, about the Autobots using one of the larger rooms in the dam for a memorial. Jazz's remains lay there on a slab of concrete, pushed together and welded in a few places so he almost looked whole, with a semi-transparent cover over them. It was a room only the Autobots went to, each grateful that only one old friend rested there.

But while Jazz was missed, the time for mourning him had long since passed as they settled into their new world, and gradually found both new and old friends. The simple joy in being able to connect to the people around them made time pass quickly despite all the problems with the local government, and a month had passed before a new arrival to Earth made Optimus realize guiltily that for all he’d told Alexandra about the other Autobots, he had yet to introduce her to them, or to their other human allies. So, when it turned out that he and Alexandra would be arriving in Tranquility about the same time as their new arrival, Optimus suggested a get-together of sorts to the other Autobots, who agreed readily.

\---

Alex was somewhat surprised when Optimus took over driving just after making their delivery. They were in Tranquility, and didn't have a trailer, so normally Alex would have been driving, but apparently Optimus had somewhere in mind to go - somewhere in the opposite direction from home. Alex considered questioning him on where they were going, but she trusted him, and she'd find out soon enough, so she just pulled out one of the books she’d started packing and resumed reading while Optimus drove.

The lookout came into sight awhile later, and while the location wasn’t a surprise, the company on it was. Six other vehicles rested in a circle, and only five people stood nearby, talking and laughing. That, coupled with the familiar yellow Camaro, told Alex that these had to be the other Autobots that she’d heard about. When Optimus pulled to a stop and opened his door, Alex let out a snort, letting him know what she thought of his kidnapping her before climbing out.

"Hey," Sam said as she walked up to where the people were standing. "How's the shoulder?"

"Good as new," Alex replied after a beat, having to stop and remember what he was talking about. The battle on the highway already seemed so long ago. She took a survey of the other four people - no, there were five, Alex realized as she saw a toddler being held by the only other woman near her age. Besides the woman with the toddler, there was a young woman around Sam's age, likely his girlfriend judging from how close she was standing to him, and two men who looked distinctly military, even though they weren't in uniform.

"Mikaela, Bobby, Will and Sarah, and littlest but most spoiled, their daughter Annabelle," Sam introduced, going from the girl to the two military men, and then the woman holding the toddler, who excitedly repeated her own name, mangling the pronunciation horribly, but still getting cooed at for it. "Everybody, Alex." Alex exchanged greetings with the others, then turned a curious eye to the vehicles, who began shifting, changing forms until seven Autobots stood around the lookout.

Optimus looked over at Alex, but apparently decided she was in good hands as he turned with the other Autobots as they converged on their companion that had been a red and silver Porsche. High-pitched mechanical sounds emanated from the gathering, and Alex guessed that it was their native language, which she'd once heard the camaro yelling after the police car...Decepticon.

"It's nice to see more Autobots making it to Earth," Will said after a moment, and Alex looked back at the others to find that they’d all been similarly distracted by their alien companions on the lookout.

"Yeah, though I think we could've done without Sunstreaker and Sideswipe for a few more years," Sam replied.

"Hey, they aren't all that bad!" Bobby replied somewhat defensively.

"Just because you can put up with their shit, Bobby, doesn't mean the rest of us can," Will said with a roll of his eyes.

"Language," Sarah scolded as she held her daughter closer to her.

"Sorry, hon," Will said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Seriously, though - I'm not sure who's more dangerous, Sunny with his homicidal tendencies, or Sides with his 'pranks'."

"Homicidal tendencies?" Alex asked, arching an eyebrow. "I thought those sorts of tendencies were reserved for Decepticons?"

"No, stupidity is generally reserved for Decepticons," Will corrected dryly.

"And Sunny ain't that bad," Bobby said, shooting a mild glare at the other military man, who just shrugged in response. "He just has a bit of a temper."

"And a bit of vanity," Sarah interjected. "I brushed by him, with a skirt no less, and he freaked about getting dust on his paint job."

"Eh, makes him more human," Bobby said with a shrug. Sarah just shook her head.

"So, uh, which one is this Sunny guy? My self-preservation is suggesting that I find out so I don't lose a limb or something." Alex eyed the gathering of Autobots warily.

"Optimus didn't tell you who the rest were?" Sarah asked in surprise, and Alex shook her head.

"It was about four in the morning when he told me. And he'd just ripped the doors and hood off my less-than-six-month-old truck. I wasn't really in the mood to listen to more than the basics."

"He did what?" The comment came from Sam, accompanied with choked laughter.

"Broke my truck. It's still getting fixed," Alex said, arching an eyebrow at the boy.

"I told you he has a sense of humor," Mikaela said from beside Sam, a triumphant look on her face.

"He's also a stubborn, uh, SOB," Alex commented, stopping herself from swearing out-right when she remembered Sarah's glare at her husband earlier.

"Which isn't necessarily a bad thing on a battle field," Bobby pointed out.

"I think we're getting off-topic," Sarah interrupted, giving Bobby a slight admonishing look, then gave Alex a friendly look. "You wanted introductions?"

"That would be nice," Alex said with a nod. "Though no introduction for Bumblebee is necessary - I tend to remember the ones that step on my trailers containing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise." 

"Technically speaking, Barricade stepped on it first," Sam piped up.

"Whatever. Bumblebee still helped squash it." Alex glared, and Sam had to concede the point.

"Well, we'll start with the others who arrived here first, then," Sarah said, getting them back on track. "The black one almost as tall as Optimus, and carrying more weaponry, is Ironhide, the Autobots' weapon specialist. He and Will get along famously, talking about blowing things up. I think that's why he hangs around our house."

"That and he's abnormally attached to Annabelle," Mikaela said with a small grin.

"This is true," Sarah said with a chuckle as Annabelle, seeming to have followed the conversation at least a little, decided to pipe up.

"I'onhi'!" she bubbled happily. Amazing, in the gathering of Autobots, the big black mech seemed to hear, and turned to look down at the human gathering for a moment, at which point Annabelle held out her arms to him and repeated his name.

"Shh, Ironhide's busy, Anna," Sarah said, sending an apologetic look to the Autobot. Despite what Sarah had just said, Ironhide disengaged himself from the Autobot conversation and stepped over, reaching down to let Annabelle latch onto one of his massive fingers, which she thoughtfully chomped down on. A low, rumbling chuckle came from the Autobot before he pulled away and returned to the other Autobots, where - judging from the way several of the Cybertronian comments seemed to be aimed his way and the laughter that followed him - he was promptly teased. Alex watched with amusement as one of his hands changed into a canon, which was waved threateningly in the direction of the only other yellow Autobot besides Bumblebee.

"That's Sunstreaker, by the way. The one Ironhide's threatening," Bobby commented, bringing Alex's attention back to the humans. "The red guy beside him is his twin, Sideswipe. Don't ask me what makes 'em twins - the closest I've gotten is that they're both Lamborghinis in their vehicles modes."

"What, you haven't managed to get it out of Sides yet?" Sam asked.

"No, I made the mistake of expressing too much curiosity over it - now he's making me guess," Bobby said with a wry grin. "I've gotten most of the obvious ones, but I'm apparently still nowhere close."

"Could always just ask Ratchet," Will suggested.

"That's the greenish-yellow one, who sorta looks like he has fangs sprouting from his lower jaw. He's their medic," Sam, the closest to Alex, said in an undertone as Bobby tried to explain to Will why Sideswipe would apparently consider asking Ratchet to be a breach of their friendship.

"I remember Optimus mentioning him," Alex replied to the boy, glancing up. "So who's the other one - the one that was a Porsche?"

"That's the new arrival - I don't know who he is. Bee wouldn't say," Sam answered with a shrug.

"Ironhide did," Will piped up, apparently having finished his discussion with Bobby. "He was almost over the moon. Apparently the new one is Cliffjumper, who's just as combat-happy as Ironhide himself, even if he is smaller." The military man then glanced at Bobby. "I'm thinking we should introduce him to Jorge."

"Oh lord. I bet you they'd start speaking in some weird hybrid of Spanish and Cybertronian," Bobby said with a groan. "We'd never be able to understand him then. You know I actually picked up a Spanish dictionary the other day?"

"Traitor," Will accused.

"Well trying to get him to speak English obviously isn't working!" Bobby retorted, and Alex gave Sam a confused look as the two men continued to argue about learning Spanish versus convincing this Jorge person to speak English.

"Jorge is one of their teammates. He helped us take out Megatron in Mission City," Sam supplied.

"He has a habit of slipping into Spanish and continuing on as if you understand him, no matter how many time you tell him you don't speak it," Mikaela continued.

"Huh. Sounds like I should meet him, too. Might shut him up to have someone yatter back at him in a language he can't understand," Alex mused.

"You speak a second language?" Sam asked curiously.

"Gaelic," Alex replied. "My mom taught it to me, before..." She trailed off and shook her head. Sam looked curious as to what she hadn't said, but didn't press. The casual banter continued for a little while longer, until both human and Autobot conversations were interrupted by the ring of a cell phone. Alex frowned as she recognized her own ringtone, and glanced down at her hip before striding over to Optimus and giving him an expectant look.

Without a word, Optimus transformed back into his truck mode, and Alex climbed into the cab and pulled her bag from behind his passenger seat. He had told her that was the only spot that remained hollow throughout his entire transformation, so she'd taken to leaving her bag there in case Optimus had to transform unexpectedly - or she forgot it like tonight.

"Thanks, Optimus," Alex said absently as she began rooting around in her bag for her cell phone. She found the phone and headed a little ways off from both robots and humans as Optimus returned to his humanoid form and the Autobot discussion continued. "Hello?" Alex answered her phone once she was a sufficient distance away, glad that most people who knew her cell number knew that it could take her awhile to answer and so let it ring.

 _"Hey Alex, I thought you were going to be in town by now?"_ Beth's voice came over the line.

"I am, I just stopped to visit some friends," Alex replied.

 _"Friends? Since when do you have friends in Tranquility?"_ Beth asked suspiciously, though Alex could hear the gentle teasing in her voice.

"Since I got the spiffy Peterbilt 379," Alex replied promptly, and Beth chuckled.

 _"I swear, that Peterbilt is like the trucker's version of a Porsche_ ," she said.

"Naw, it's better than that," Alex said, looking with amusement at where two robots that transformed into a Peterbilt and a Porsche were amicably chatting. It was a little too ironic for her, and she let out a brief chuckle. "Was there a reason I need to be home?"

_"No, just Josh and I are going out for dinner, and I didn't want you to wander in and wonder where the heck we were. Plus, you said by suppertime."_

"OK, OK, next time I'm going to be later than I said, I'll phone." Alex rolled her eyes, getting the hint.

 _"Good!"_ Beth declared. _"Now we'd better get going, apparently Josh has reservations."_

"Ooooh, where at?" Alex asked curiously.

 _"The Diplomat."_ The smirk was audible in her sister's voice as she named one of the most expensive restaurants in the city.

"Fancy!" Alex said with a smile, glad that Josh was treating her sister to such a place. "I'll see you when you get home, then."

 _"Alright. Don't wait up for us, though,"_ Beth said, and then the sisters said their goodbyes and hung up. Returning to the other humans, Alex stuffed her cell phone back into her bag.

"Sister," she said by way of explanation.

"How did that not get ruined?" Sarah asked curiously, motioning to Alex's bag.

"Oh, apparently there's a sweet spot right behind the front passenger seat that stays hollow all throughout his transformation. It's rather unreachable in robot form, though," Alex replied dismissively.

"Huh. I wonder if any of the others have that," Sarah said with a mild glare at her husband, who shrugged innocently.

"Never thought to ask."

"You might want to," Sarah suggested menacingly.

"I will," Will replied meekly.

"Purse?" Mikaela asked Sarah, who nodded.

"Four times."

"Ouch. Only twice for me."

"It's not really their fault you keep forgetting your purses inside them, you know," Sam felt obliged to point out, only to find himself subjected to glares from both women. "But, uh, of course they could, uh, try to be a bit more careful about what's inside them when they, er, transform," the boy hastily added, and sighed in relief as the glares went away. Alex couldn't help but smile.

They chatted for a little while longer, until the Autobots broke up and Sarah told Will they needed to get Annabelle back to their hotel and in bed. That seemed to signal the end of the Autobot gathering as well, and they all broke away and transformed into their vehicle modes. Everyone began to climb into their respective vehicles, only to pause as Optimus suddenly cranked his radio, and the voice of a news reporter was heard around the lookout.

Alex frowned, then her eyes went wide as she realized what the reporter was saying - there'd been a car crash, bad, in downtown. A car had been t-boned on the driver's side by a pick-up truck, then hit from behind by another car that hadn't been able to stop in time. Alex had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as the reporter rattled off descriptions of the cars, and the exact location of the crash. It was less than a block from the Diplomat restaurant, and the car that had been t-boned was described as a purple and black Nissan - Josh's car, which Optimus would know from the times Josh had been over while Alex had been home at her sister's place.

"Shit!" she exclaimed.

"Cliffjumper?" Optimus said as he flipped the radio off, and the Porsche sped over to Alex, popping open his driver's side door.

"What's going on?" Alex heard Sam ask as she scrambled into the Porsche, knowing without needing to ask why Optimus wanted her to go in the smaller Autobot - he could get her there quicker. And so Cliffjumper did, taking off with a squeal of his wheels, reaching his max speed in a matter of moments. Alex stayed well away from the controls, letting the Autobot drive as they headed for downtown.

"Thanks," Alex had the where-with-all to say half-way through the trip.

"No problem," Cliffjumper replied, neatly passing several cars on the wrong side.

"You should probably read a driver's manual," Alex commented at that.

"Have," was the terse reply.

"As long as you know you're breaking laws," Alex replied with a shrug, and there was a low chuckle at that.

It was only a few more minutes before Cliffjumper began to slow down, proceeding to weave through backed-up traffic at less than half the speed limit, until he finally broke through to reveal a horrible scene. Alex could only tell that there were three different vehicles in the middle of the intersection because of the different colors of the paint - they'd all collided with such force that they seemed melded together. The police and emergency vehicles had obviously been at work already, as the various vehicles were ripped open and no bodies were to be seen - but nothing had been done about the blood glistening on the pavement all around the crash.

Faintly, Alex heard something that sounded like a Cybertronian swear from Cliffjumper as she got out of the Porsche. Almost immediately, a police officer came over and told her to get back in her car, and Alex stared at him blankly before comprehending.

"My sister -" Alex managed to get out, pointing towards the mangled mess of vehicles, and the officer glanced over before taking her by the elbow and leading her off to the side, where an ambulance sat. One of the EMTs came over almost immediately, and upon seeing how Alex's eyes were glued to the wreck, he forcibly turned her away from it. The next few minutes were fuzzy for Alex, until she became aware of a female police officer standing in front of her gently asking her name.

"Alex. Morgan. The Nissan - it's my sister's boyfriend's car. They were going out for supper," she said in a daze. The officer nodded.

"Well your sister's still alive, but in critical condition. The others weren't so lucky," she said, and Alex blinked, coming out of her daze a bit as she realized that the officer had said Beth was alive.

"The others...Josh is dead?" Alex asked once the rest of what the officer had said sunk in.

"Your sister is the only one who survived the crash," the officer said with a sympathetic look, and Alex just stared at her for a moment. "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital. Your sister's likely still in the OR, but the doctors can keep you informed. She didn't look that bad when they took her away, though."

Alex just nodded dumbly and allowed herself to be led to the police car - but as soon as the door was opened for her, she jerked away violently, having a suddenly mental image of it transforming into Barricade. The officer looked at her oddly, and Alex looked back at where Cliffjumper still sat. Even though she knew the police car wasn't a Decepticon, after seeing that accident, she didn't really want to be in a normal car right now.

"My car -" she said by way of explanation. The officer seemed ready to push her into the patrol car, anyways, but then she noticed where Alex was looking. There was barely a pause before the officer led her in Cliffjumper's direction, calling out to another officer that she was going to take Alex to the hospital in the Porsche, so they didn't have to tow it later. Apparently even a police officer couldn't pass up the chance to drive a Porsche, something Alex was unreasonably grateful for right now.

Alex sat willingly in the passenger seat as the officer climbed into the driver's side, adjusted the mirrors, and then took off, only speeding a little. Alex could see her appreciation for the vehicle, and smiled slightly before remembering where they were going and her mood dropped again. They arrived at the hospital quickly, and the officer parked the car, then led Alex into the emergency entrance, where she spoke to the nurse on duty. When they asked her for some ID, Alex blinked, trying to remember where her bag was, before remembering dropping it on the lookout. She cursed, earning her a disapproving look from the nurse.

"It's - I was out of the car when I heard, and I dropped my bag," Alex said.

"Grabbed it for you," a voice said from behind, and she turned to find Sam holding out her bag, Mikaela right behind him. Outside the emergency doors, she could just see the yellow of Bumblebee.

"Thanks," Alex said, taking her bag. She rifled through it and found her wallet, giving her ID to the nurse. Once it was confirmed that she was actually Beth’s sister, she was let into the waiting room for the OR. Sam and Mikaela followed for support, and as soon as Alex sat down, Mikaela wrapped her in a hug and didn't let go.

"Optimus filled us in," Sam said quietly. "Will and Sarah had to get Annabelle to bed, but Bobby's going to see what he can do at the crash site."

"And Optimus?" Alex asked after a moment.

"Back at...your sister's place," Sam said hesitantly. "He's keeping in touch, though." Alex nodded, and all was silent in the room. Eventually, a doctor entered, and Alex looked up wearily, almost not wanting to hear what he was going to say.

"Alexandra Morgan?" he asked, looking between Mikaela and Alex, and Mikaela pointed to Alex. "Your sister is still in the OR, but she's going to be fine. She's lost a lot of blood, but we’re giving her a transfusion, and the rest of her injuries should heal without any trouble."

"Do you...know how long it will take? For her to heal?" Alex asked, knowing it sounded callous, and the doctor seemed to agree, frowning at her.

"Alex drives trucks for a living," Sam supplied hurriedly, and the doctor understood.

"She won't be out of the hospital for a week, at least," he said sympathetically. "And she probably won't be able to go to work for a month or so after that."

"Oh. OK," Alex said quietly. The doctor said something else, but Alex didn't hear, letting Sam and Mikaela say goodbye to him.

"Did you want something to eat or drink?" Sam asked after a moment.

"Ginger ale," Alex responded, knowing that nothing else would stay down, and Sam disappeared.

"Are you and your sister close?" Mikaela asked after he was gone.

"I guess. We're completely different, but we get along, and she lets me store my stuff at her house and sleep there whenever I wanted," Alex replied softly. Mikaela filled the next hour with a soft, easy conversation about Alex's family, even finding out about Alex and Beth's mother, something Alex wouldn’t normally tell to someone she’d only met a few hours ago. Sam returned part way through with ginger ale, which he obliging let go flat at Alex's request. It was a doctor returning that cut off Mikaela's gentle questions at around one in the morning. He focused on Alex almost immediately, seeming to know she was the sister.

"Elizabeth is fine. She's in a room now, and you can have a brief look, but she's unconscious," the doctor said calmly, using Beth's full name. "You can come in tomorrow in the evening, though, and she should be awake."

"I'll..." Alex jerkily stood from her chair, and the doctor led the way to Beth's room. Mikaela followed behind Alex, though Sam left, presumably to pass the message through Bumblebee or Cliffjumper that Beth was fine. It was somehow soothing for Alex to know that all these people she'd just met - not to mention a bunch of giant alien robots - were concerned about her sister. Or maybe just Alex's emotional well-being.

When they reached Beth's room, the doctor held open the door and let Alex approach the bed her sister was in. Beth had a bandage around her head, and from the looks of the bulges under the sheets, on her legs, as well. There were a few cuts and scrapes visible on Beth's arms, and one hand was wrapped in bandages, but overall it didn't look too bad, even with the IV in one arm. Satisfied, Alex brushed some hair off her sister's forehead, then left, Mikaela a silent support beside her as she returned to the parking lot. As she left, the doctor suggested she might not want to drive, and Alex let a ghost of a smile cross her lips at that even as she told him she wasn't planning to.

"Do you want me to come with you in Cliffjumper?" Mikaela asked as they stepped outside. "Or did you want to go in Bumblebee?"

"He stepped on my trailer," Alex muttered, and Mikaela grinned briefly. "I'll be fine with Cliffjumper."

"Alright. But we'll be coming by to check on your tomorrow," Mikaela said, half in warning and half teasing. Alex smiled briefly at that, then nodded as they neared Cliffjumper and Bumblebee. As much belated revenge for the wrecking of her trailer, Alex gave Bumblebee a kick in one of his rear tires. The Autobot honked his horn at her, and she smiled again before climbing into Cliffjumper, who set off without a word.

"Why did you kick Bumblebee?" Cliffjumper asked as he drove, sounding curious. Alex grinned a bit, then took the distraction for what it was and told the Porsche about how Bumblebee and Barricade had crushed her trailer the day she'd found out her truck was really an Autobot. Cliffjumper seemed entertained by the story, though more due to the fact that Bumblebee and Optimus beat the crap out of two Decepticons than anything else from what Alex could tell. It was still a welcome distraction from the events of the night, though.

"Thank you," Alex said as the Autobot came to a stop in front of her sister's house.

"No problem," Cliffjumper replied. "Optimus says that neither you nor your sister own a car, though - mind if I stick around so you don't need to go around in Optimus or use one of those...whaddaya call them? Taxis?

"Sure," Alex said gratefully. "There's a driveway around back you can use so you don't have to sit out on the street and deal with idiots trying to steal or wreck you." Cliffjumper let out a snort at that, then peeled away, doing a sharp U-turn on the street before heading for the back alley. Alex watched him go, then turned to the house, and the intelligent Peterbilt sitting in front.

Taking a deep breath, Alex headed for the house, feeling surreal as she stopped in front of the door. She reached for the handle, but at the last moment, jerked away and turned back towards Optimus. The passenger door opened soundlessly, and Alex took the invitation, climbing inside. She made her way into the back and curled up on the bed back there, the curtains for the back shutting by themselves. Elvis crooned softly from the radio in the front of the cab, and Alex eventually slipped into sleep listening to him.


	6. Visitors and Crotchety Old Robots

Alex woke the next morning to voices, and blearily opened her eyes. Seeing only the curtains in the back of Optimus' cab, she blinked, her mind momentarily blanking as to why she was sleeping in the truck before she remembered coming home and being unable to face the house. Shaking her head to clear the last of the morning fuzz, Alex focused on the voices that had woken her. She heard Mikaela's voice and pushed herself up, poking her head into the front of the cab, looking out to see Mikaela, along with Sam and the others that she'd met last night, standing around their various Autobot friends' vehicle forms outside, talking. They kept glancing up at the house, and Alex suspected they'd tried the doorbell a couple of times already.

"You didn't tell them where I was?" she asked Optimus with amusement.

"You were sleeping," he rumbled back. Alex smiled slightly.

"Thanks," she said, then pulled herself the rest of the way into the front seat. Sam spotted her then, and glared in the general direction of the truck, obviously meaning it for Optimus. Optimus ignored the boy, opening his door for Alex to climb out.

"Hi guys," Alex said, then headed for the house, feeler surer now that it was day and she had people around her. "Come on in." They followed, and their presence assured that Alex made herself go inside, even when she had the same last minute jerk-away reaction as she'd had last night. She wasn't sure if they even noticed her twitch as she reached for the doorknob, as none of them mentioned it.

They went no farther than the living room, and Alex was glad, since she didn't want to go any farther. It wasn't just that it was her sister's house, and Beth was in the hospital, but the last several times Alex had been there, so had Josh...and he was dead now. Alex felt a chill go down her spine at the thought, and she carefully chose a chair that she'd never seen Josh sit in.

"How are you doing?" Sarah asked, sitting beside Alex and holding Annabelle in her lap, the toddler looking around with wide eyes, remarkably quiet for her age. Mikaela took up station on Alex's other side, while the three men were left to sit elsewhere, and ended up on the couch.

"Good. Better than I'd expect, but then, Beth's not dead. She's going to be a wreck when she finds out Josh didn't make it," Alex replied, her voice surprisingly steady.

"More than you know," Bobby put in, and held out a blood-stained box to her. Alex looked at him as if he were crazy, then her eyes slid back down to the box as she realized what kind it was.

"No," she said quietly, reaching out and taking the ring box. She flipped it open, then shut almost immediately as she saw the engagement ring inside.

"There found it, uh, on him," Bobby said, and Alex could tell he censored what he'd been going to say. Looking at the stains on the outside of the box, Alex suspected that the censoring was probably that the box had been found in Josh, not on him.

"Figures," Alex said with a sigh. "She spends all her time since dad's death looking for Mister Right, and she finally finds him only for this to happen."

"At least she found him for awhile," Sarah said softly, glancing up at Will.

"It's better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all?" Will quoted with dark humour, and Sarah gave him a baleful look.

"Motto of any soldier's wife," she said sternly, and Will held up his hands in surrender. Alex smiled slightly.

"Thanks you guys," she said. "I...this is more than I expected. I've kind of had to deal with things by myself since Dad died - Beth and I never did the mutual support thing well, we tend to drive each other insane. And I only met most of you last night." There were uncomfortable shrugs from the men, and sympathetic looks from the women.

"Least we could do for someone Optimus saw fit to follow around for three months, driving us batty trying to keep track of him," Will said.

"Well at least he was causing someone other than me trouble doing that," Alex said with amusement, and Will arched an eyebrow. "Do you have any idea how paranoid it makes you, having a truck follow you around by itself? Every night, he was parked outside my hotel room, and I kept catching glimpses of him during the day. I could hardly sleep. A cop probably would have taken me in just because of suspicious behaviour if I'd been stopped."

"I know the feeling," Bobby said with a chuckle. "Sunstreaker and Sideswipe...god, both of them followed me around for a month. I had no idea they were Autobots at the time, thought actual people were stalking me. Then Will here shows up with Ironhide one day, and as soon as Sunstreaker showed his front bumper, Ironhide realized what was going on and let me in on the joke."

"And then Bobby threw a rock at Sunstreaker and almost got run over," Will added dryly.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Bobby quipped in reply, and Alex giggled.

"I see now why you two get along so well," Sarah said with as much dryness as her husband. Bobby grinned.

"At least I'm not the only one," Alex said, giggling again, then, feeling brave now that she'd survived going this far into the house, she stood and headed for the kitchen. "Anybody want something to drink, or food?"

"Foo'!" Annabelle exclaimed, looking up at Alex, who chuckled.

"We ate before we came here, but some coffee wouldn't go amiss," Bobby said, getting up and following Alex into the kitchen. "It took a few phone calls to get the police to let me in on the investigation, and by then it was the night shift doing the work." Alex nodded, heading for the coffee.

"How did you manage to get in on the investigation, anyways?" Alex asked. "I mean, it's not like you have any relation to me besides Autobots, and unless I'm mistaken, the cops don't know about them."

"No, they don't. It involved a little bit of lying, to be truthful," Bobby said.

"Oh?" Alex asked as she got the coffeemaker going.

"I may have had to imply to the secretary of defense that we thought the Decepticons might have had something to do with the accident, since you and Optimus wander around together," Bobby said with a bit of a grin, and Alex, in the middle of browsing in the fridge, gave him a look of disbelief.

"You lied to the secretary of defense? Successfully?" she asked incredulously, and Bobby's grin turned into a smirk.

"Hey, I was the one who got them to use 105 sabot rounds, leading to the discovery that they melt through Decepticon armor as well as tank armor," he said smugly, then chuckled. "Actually, anyone who fought in Mission City is pretty much a golden boy - or girl - right now as far as the government is concerned. Just about anything we want, we can get."

"Ah, the perks of helping save the world," Alex said with amusement, looking in the freezer and discovering some frozen juice in there to mix up for herself, and probably Sarah, even though only Bobby had answered Alex's question.

"Hey, you shoulda seen what Sam and Mikaela got," Bobby said with a shake of his head. "They aren't going to be paying for any part of their school from now until they get whatever degrees they want, among other things."

"Good to know the government knows how to say _'thank you for saving the human race'_ ," Alex said as she used hot water to melt the juice and then mixed it up. Opening the cupboard to where her sister stored the glasses, Alex motioned Bobby to them. "Grab some for everyone," she said, and Bobby obliged, hauling them off to the living room. She followed him with the juice. "Coffee's being made."

"Thanks Alex, you didn't need to," Sarah said.

"Hey, it got me into the kitchen," Alex said with a shrug, and then added jokingly: "If I decide someone needs a pillow, I might actually get upstairs today." There was an awkward silence at that, and Alex frowned, feeling the need to explain. "Josh has - had - become as much a part of this house as Beth this last little while." There were nods of understanding all around.

They talked for most of the morning, before Alex and Sarah investigated what there was for lunch and made soup and biscuits for everyone. It was a good thing Sarah was there, too, since Alex would have made too little - she'd never cooked for men before, besides her dad, and he hadn't eaten a lot. She couldn't believe how much Sam ate, let alone the two army rangers.

Sarah and Will eventually headed off so Annabelle could have some quiet nap time at their hotel, but Sam, Mikaela and Bobby stayed until supper, which they decided to go out for before Bobby took off to the police station to see what had been discovered about the crash. Sam decided to let Alex and Mikaela go alone to the hospital then, and took off in Bumblebee once Cliffjumper said he'd drive Mikaela home that night.

"We haven't told her anything about the accident," the doctor said as he led Alex and Mikaela to Beth's room. "She's still very weak, and we didn't want to upset her."

"So I shouldn't tell her if she asks?" Alex asked, and the doctor paused, his hand on the doorknob of Beth's room.

"You're probably the best person for her to hear it from," he told her, but his intent look said he wasn't sure if she could handle telling it. Alex took a deep breath and nodded, and that seemed to reassure the doctor. He opened the door to let her in. "If she gets tired, you should let her rest," he said in parting. Alex barely heard, her gaze locked on her little sister, who was propped up in the bed, looking miserable. Mikaela discreetly hid herself in a corner and picked up a magazine, knowing she was there for support, not to be part of the conversation.

"Hey Lexi," Beth said softly, using her childhood nickname for Alex.

"Beth..." Alex said just as softly, and then in a few swift strides, was beside her sister, hugging her, being careful of her injuries. Beth hugged back weakly.

"They won't tell me what happened," Beth said miserably once they separated. "Josh didn't make it, did he?" Alex nodded shakily.

"The truck hit on the driver's side," she said, remembering what Bobby had told her. "It's pretty much a miracle you survived, especially after the second car hit."

"There was another hit?" Beth asked in surprise, and Alex nodded.

"Couldn't stop. It hit from behind."

"Did..." Beth faltered, and Alex just shook her head.

"You and I, we have the luck of the Irish, as Mom used to say," Alex said with black humour. "I jump out of a truck going at god only knows what speed and survive with only a dislocated shoulder and a few scrapes, and you come out of an otherwise fatal accident without serious injury."

"Too bad Josh didn't have more Irish in him," Beth replied with the same humour. The two sisters sat in silence for awhile. "When do you have to head out again?" Beth asked finally, sounding awkward as she looked down at her blanket.

"Oh, probably about...never," Alex said, trying to hide her hurt that her sister thought she'd leave her like this. The hope in Beth's eyes as she looked up cleared it, though.

"Really?" Alex nodded, and Beth's smile was as happy as it could be under the circumstances. "Thank you."

"Yeah, well, I probably couldn't leave town even if I wanted to, not that I do," Alex said, hiding her amusement - she somehow doubted Optimus would let her leave Beth like this, considering the concern he'd already shown for Alex.

"Why not?" Beth asked in confusion.

"A few of those friends I mentioned. Plus George would kick my ass all the way back here before letting me leave from his depot," Alex covered. Beth laughed lightly, but it turned into a grimace of pain, a reminder of her injuries.

"So who're you?" Beth asked once the pain left her expression, looking curiously over at Mikaela, who put down the magazine.

"Mikaela, I'm a friend of Alex's," she said. Beth glanced over at Alex in surprise, obviously noticing how young Mikaela was.

"Really? How'd you two meet?" she asked curiously.

"Rather indirectly. I met her boyfriend at a truck stop, and then was introduced to her later," Alex supplied for Mikaela, who nodded. "And no, her boyfriend isn't a trucker. He just parked his shiny new Camaro beside my truck and I decided to let him know that he might not want to park there in the future." Though, now that Alex thought about it, Sam had probably parked there on purpose, so Optimus and Bumblebee could talk.

"Your life has been very weird this year," Beth said to her sister after a pause.

"Oh, you have no idea," Alex said earnestly.

"Someday you'll have to fill me in on that," Beth said, arching an eyebrow. The visit continued on a light-hearted note from there, but Alex could see the pain of Josh's loss in Beth's eyes, and the next day she went without Mikaela. She decided not to tell Beth about Josh planning to propose to her until her sister was home.

In the mean time, Alex went back to the jewelers that Josh had gotten the engagement ring from and had them replace the box. They were very sympathetic when they heard what had happened, and what was supposed to be a 5 minute visit turned into two hours as Alex and the store manager - who had lost his wife to cancer a few years ago - talked in his office.

When she went to leave, he presented her with a locket that he'd apparently ordered engraved before he'd invited her into his office to talk - it now read 'Never Forgotten - Joshua Vanderboten'. Alex tried to give it back, despite the customization, but the store manager told her to take it - Josh had put down a deposit on wedding rings when he'd bought the engagement ring, and while store policy said that the manager couldn't give it back, he could give her the locket. Alex impulsively hugged the man, and then left before she started crying. Cliffjumper drove her home.

It was a week and a half before Beth came home - by that time, Will, Sarah, and Annabelle had gone home, but Bobby was still around, and Sam and Mikaela lived in town. Beth didn't even comment about the Porsche Alex drove her home in, seeming drained, but she perked up when they entered the house and she found three other people there. Alex knew exactly how she felt, having experienced that the first night she'd come back here after the accident. Beth took to Sam and Bobby the same way she'd taken to Mikaela - the same way she took to everyone, it was why she'd kept getting crappy boyfriends - and so Alex had little trouble leaving her sister in the living room with Bobby so she, Sam and Mikaela could make supper.

Alex could hear Beth asking Bobby questions about the accident once they left, having been told that he'd been in on the investigation, and Bobby answered everything. Apparently the driver of the truck had been high on marijuana - lots of it. The driver of the car that had struck them from behind had been clean, but old, with slowed reaction times. Beth insisted on sending condolences cards to both of their families, much to Bobby's surprise, and Alex just smiled from the kitchen, recognizing the old Beth.

The real test came once the others had gone home and it was time for Beth and Alex to go to bed, though. They both stood uncertainly at the bottom of the stairs for several minutes before Beth let out a small snort.

"We're ridiculous," she said.

"We really are," Alex said wryly.

"And why are you even hesitating? Didn't you sleep here while I was at the hospital?" Beth asked.

"Truck," Alex said with a shake of her head, and Beth let out a small snort of laughter.

"Yep, ridiculous," she said. Then, at the same time, she and Alex looked at each other. "Together?" Beth said softly, and Alex nodded. They went up side by side, and Alex stood by her sister as she entered her room. Beth almost immediately started crying - Josh had left some of his clothes there, and she insisted the room smelled of him, though Alex couldn't tell. Alex spent an hour comforting her sister before Beth finally fell asleep, tears dried on her face, clutching one of Josh's shirts. Only then did Alex go to her room, opening the door for the first time in over a month.

Almost immediately, her eyes latched onto the folded piece of paper resting in the middle of her bed, addressed to her in unknown handwriting. Curious, she went and picked it up, then abruptly sat down on her bed as she read the note on the inside, feeling like she'd been punched in the stomach. It was from Josh - he was apologizing for not being able to wait until she'd gotten there, since he'd wanted to ask if she was alright with him proposing to Beth. It went on with casual chatter about random things, almost obscenely cheery, considering what had happened, and when Alex reached the end, she realized she was crying.

Sniffling, she brushed away the tears, then carefully folded up the note. Glancing around her room, Alex hesitated only a few moments before heading back downstairs to find the locket and ring. She went back upstairs, tiptoeing into Beth's room and placing the three items on Beth's bedside table, where her sister would see them in the morning. She'd been putting off telling Beth about Josh's plans, and now she knew why. It was better to let Josh himself tell her.

Tiptoeing back out, Alex glanced at her room again, then sighed. She left the door open and headed back downstairs and out the front door. Optimus didn't say a word as she climbed into his cab, though he turned on a few of his dashboard lights when she didn't immediately crawl into the back, instead sitting with her feet up on the seat, arms wrapped around her legs.

"Did you ever have a year where everything was just one giant roller-coaster ride? Good following bad in such rapid succession you barely had time to think?" Alex asked finally, softly.

"Depends if you count during the war on Cybertron." Optimus' voice was just as quiet. "In the war, it was always good and bad news following right after each other. We won a fight, but lost a friend. We took back a major sector, but Megatron took a different one. It went like that every day. I saw more than a few soldiers shut down emotionally from it." Alex didn't really have anything to say to that, so instead just sat there.

"So how did you end up at George's depot, anyways?" Alex asked finally. The question was one she'd been meaning to ask for awhile, but was always forgetting. She yelped as a person suddenly flickered into view in the driver’s seat - it was an middle-aged man, looking as George had described that man who had given him the keys to the ‘truck’.

"Holoform," the driver said, and then flickered out of existence again. Optimus didn't need to explain anymore, it was easy for Alex to piece together the rest - so she decided to give him hell for scaring her, instead.

"Way to give a girl a heart attack!" Alex said, eyes wide as she stared at the place the driver had been.

"Your heart was in no danger," Optimus primly informed her.

"Oh stuff your sensors," Alex said, sticking her tongue out at the stereo, then frowned as a vague, drunken memory rose to the surface, and she realized she’d seen Optimus’s holoform before. "Wait. The day that George told me my dad's truck couldn't be fixed, and I went and got drunk at the bar…" She trailed off, and Optimus remained suspiciously silent. "That was you that walked me back to my hotel! Oh god, your first real interaction with me, and I was drunk off my ass." Alex giggled.

"I was concerned," Optimus said with dignity.

"Concerned my ass. You're a giant worry-wort, is what you are," Alex said with a snort.

"Your behaviour warranted some worry."

"I suppose so," Alex said with a shake of her head, then fell silent for a moment. The reminder of her old truck, and of her dad, brought her thoughts back to family. "Did - do your…um, kind, have families? Get married and all that?" There was a pause.

"We did, on Cybertron," Optimus replied. "Though our marriages were not quite the same as yours."

"Oh?" 

"It's difficult to explain to...someone not Cybertronian," Optimus said, which was his diplomatic way of saying that it was a long explanation that he wasn't inclined to give. He'd as much as admitted in the early days of their friendship that there were things about themselves that he and his fellow Autobots weren't sharing with humans on purpose.

"Were you ever married?" Alex asked after a pause, deciding to try a different tack. There was a longer silence after that, and Alex wondered if he was trying to find another way to change the topic without seeming insensitive.

"Not...technically." The eventual response, with its layers of emotion, had Alex realizing that this was another one of those topics that was easier to forget, and so she changed the topic.

"Why do your answers always lead to more questions?"

"Things end up complicated when you've lived as long as me," Optimus replied with a hint of amusement, the emotion of his last response gone.

"Exactly how old _are_ you, anyways?"

"Old," was Optimus' enigmatic response.

"That's so helpful."

"You're welcome." Alex swore she could _hear_ the Prime smirking.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep," she said, shaking her head. "I'm too tired to deal with crotchety old robots." Alex made a dive for the back even as Optimus moved the seat and swung open the passenger door in an attempt to eject her for that remark. "Hah!" Alex exclaimed in triumph from the back once she'd righted herself. Optimus grumbled before slamming his door. Alex chuckled, then settled herself on the bed for another night.


	7. Kinky Robot Sex and Annoying Little Irritants

Alex woke to music, and rubbed her eyes groggily, only vaguely aware that Optimus was actually waking her up this morning. She somehow managed to pull herself into the front seat, where she sat blinking owlishly in the morning sunlight.

"Buh?" she asked intelligently after a moment.

"Elizabeth seems distressed," Optimus said, turning off the radio.

"Huhn?" Alex blinked at the radio.

"Sensors." Optimus somehow knew exactly what Alex had meant to ask. The sleepy human mumbled something incoherent, then stumbled out of the truck and into the house. Not seeing her sister on the main floor, she went upstairs, first heading for Beth's room, but blinking as she realized the door was open and no-one was inside. She turned to her room and saw the door partially closed, remembering leaving it open the night before. With a frown, she pushed the door open a bit, and saw Beth sitting on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest, staring and the locket, letter, and ring sitting on the bed in front of her. Sleepiness vanished from Alex as she sighed, then opened the door the rest of the way, stepping inside. Beth looked up.

"Is it really more comfortable?" she asked, and Alex hesitated.

"To me," she finally replied. "It was...really weird to think of you not being here and, well..." Alex glanced down at the objects on her bed, leaving the rest unsaid. Beth nodded, understanding. She'd seen how her sister had taken to Josh like she hadn't with any of Beth's previous boyfriends - it was what had told her that this was it, she'd found him. Alex had always been her litmus test for her boyfriends - first just to hear what her sister had to say after meeting them, then after that disastrous encounter with Robert, to see if she had enough confidence in them to even let them meet her sister.

"Thanks for..." Beth motioned to the things on the bed.

"I didn't even find the note 'till last night," Alex said with an embarrassed shrug. "He left it on my bed. The locket came from the jewelers where he bought the ring, once they found out what had happened."

"Oh," Beth said after a moment. "And...the ring?"

"Bobby gave it to me," Alex said, not feeling the need to go into detail. Beth could draw her own conclusions about how and where Bobby had gotten it.

"Alex, I feel so lost," Beth said, looking down at her bare feet. "He was everything I was looking for. Now he's gone. So suddenly, too...like Dad. It's almost worse than Mom."

"Yeah," Alex said quietly.

"I do go to see her, you know," Beth said unexpectedly. "On holidays." Alex blinked in surprise - her sister had never mentioned visiting their mother, so she'd assumed that Beth didn't go. She should have known better, though.

"Oh," Alex said.

"You're regressing into monosyllables," Beth said.

"Tired," Alex said with a small smile.

"Comfy bed, right here," Beth said, patting the bed besides her, and Alex hesitated only a moment before joining her sister. Despite Alex's professed tiredness, she didn't fall asleep as she and Beth sat on the bed, each lost in their own thoughts, but needing the company. Alex supposed this was the real reason she'd gone out and slept in Optimus' cab every night - he was a substitute for the comforting presence of her sister. An odd substitute, but it had worked. Now, though, Alex was glad to have her sister back.

\---

The next few weeks were emotional for Alex and Beth, as they went to Josh's funeral - staying near the back, so as not to cause a scene with his mother - and then, at Beth's insistence, to the funerals for the drivers of the other two vehicles. The family of the older man who'd been in the car that had hit from behind were welcoming, all things considered, telling Beth and Alex stories about their lost family member. At the end, one of the man's elderly sisters declared that he would have liked her, and Beth was then required to exchange addresses and phone numbers before she could leave.

The funeral for the truck driver was far more tense. Alex resisted Beth going right down to the second they set foot inside the funeral home, knowing that their reception would be iffy. Inside the funeral home, there were two distinct groups of people - one group was clearly the driver's family, while the other was a group of somewhat ragged early-20s kids who looked extraordinarily uncomfortable in their suits and neat dresses. Alex saw a few with large piercings or tattoos peeking out from under their clothes, and decided these must have been the driver's friends, who the family was not too pleased about him having. Alex just stood back and watched as Beth stood in the entrance, uncertain about the two groups, until one of the girls from the group of friends noticed her.

"Hi," she said quietly, coming over. Alex noticed several dull red marks on the girl's face where piercings had been removed for the occasion. "You're...Elizabeth Morgan, aren't you?" Beth nodded, seeming surprised. "I'm Tracy. I...was a good friend of Brent's." Tracy bit her lip and looked hesitant. "I'm kind of surprised you're here, considering." Beth shrugged.

"What's done is done," she said with a sigh. "I may not like it, but it can't be changed." Tracy nodded, then unexpectedly grabbed Beth's arm and pulled her over to the group of family members. Alex could see them tense as Tracy approached, then their faces relaxed as the girl introduced Beth.

Alex didn't get near Beth for the rest of the funeral - she was absorbed by first the family, and then both family and friends. Brent, the driver, had apparently been estranged from his family because of the friends he'd been keeping - but Beth walked in there, a complete stranger, and got the two groups to talk. Probably only because it was the man's funeral, to be sure, but it made Alex smile to see her sister's soothing ways in action - and to see the experience ease the grief of all parties involved.

After the funerals, Beth and Alex remained in the house for a few days, simply recovering, before Alex decided they needed to get out and do something. Beth somewhat willingly let herself be dragged out into the backyard, but about ten feet away from Cliffjumper, she dug in her heels and stopped short.

"Wha...buh?" Beth said intelligently, and Alex glanced back questioningly to see her sister staring at Cliffjumper - in car mode - with wide eyes. Alex sighed. Beth had finally realized they were riding around in a Porsche.

"What?" Alex asked, trying to play clueless as she let go of her sister's arm and headed for the car. "It's just the car."

"Just the...where the hell did you get a _Porsche_?!" Beth managed in a high-pitched squeak. "And why are you just leaving it out in the driveway?"

"It's a long story, and nobody would be able to steal this thing if they tried," Alex replied, trying to avoid the conversation that she wasn’t sure she was even allowed to have. Optimus hadn’t said anything specific about not telling Beth, and she hadn't had to sign any sort of NDA or anything, but the Autobots _were_ a national secret. "Come on."

"Nuh-uh. I want to hear this story!" Beth insisted.

"Can't it wait until af-" Alex was cut off by Cliffjumper's horn. Both sisters jumped.

"Just tell her." Cliffjumper's voice was loud in the silence - _he_ apparently had no compunctions about telling Beth.

"Um." Beth gave the car a wide-eyed look, obviously wondering who was inside it.

"You tell her, if you're so eager," Alex retorted, not having the slightest clue where to begin, anyways.

"Um, do you have a boyfriend hidden in there or something, Alex?" Beth asked nervously. Alex looked over at Cliffjumper and snickered. The Autobot made a 'harrumph' noise.

"Come on then, let’s go someplace private so I can explain," Alex said, and the Porsche's doors popped open. Beth squeaked and took a step backwards. Alex rolled her eyes and walked over to her sister, physically leading her to the car. She had to all but push Beth inside and slam the door before her sister could crawl back out.

"I thought humans liked this particular model," Cliffjumper rumbled as Alex got in the driver's side, and Beth's eyes were wide as she frantically looked around for the source of the voice.

"It's the car, Beth," Alex said with a sigh as Cliffjumper started his engine and backed out of the driveway.

"What?" Beth asked, focusing her almost wild eyes on Alex.

"The car. It's the one talking? It's also the one driving, you'll notice," Alex said patiently, motioning to the wheel, which was turning by itself. Beth's eyes got even wider...and then rolled back into her head as she fainted.

"Wow. That was bad," Cliffjumper commented after a long pause.

"As if Optimus did any better with me," Alex retorted.

"He was being attacked. All you had to do was explain why you had a Porsche," Cliffjumper pointed out.

"You're the one that started talking," Alex sniped.

"Only after it was obvious that you weren't gonna be able to cover," Cliffjumper retorted, and the two of them continued bickering all the war to the lookout, Optimus following. Beth woke up as they were pulling in, making the two of them shut up, and the younger Morgan sister staggered out of the Porsche as soon as he opened his door.

Beth turned back to Alex, who was just shutting the door, but whatever she'd been about to say was cut off as Cliffjumper apparently decided it was a good idea to transform immediately. Beth let out a scream, and Alex had to tackle her as she tried to run away, glaring up at the Porsche once she'd managed to wrestle her sister to the ground.

"Do you mind?!" she asked, and Cliffjumper made an unimpressed noise.

"Cliffjumper," Optimus's voice said sternly, and the smaller Autobot grumbled, but stepped back a ways.

"Thank you," she said with a nod for Optimus, then turned back to her sister, who had finally stopped screaming, her wide-eyed gaze darting between Cliffjumper and Optimus.

"Beth. Beth! Elizabeth Anne Morgan!" Alex said, trying to snap her sister out of it, and succeeding on the final try.

"Robot," Beth said weakly, pointing to Cliffjumper.

"Yeah, his name's Cliffjumper," Alex said, glancing over at him, and he gave a little wave. Beth stared at him, then slowly blinked, her eyes sliding over to Optimus, probably guessing that he was the same, though he remained in his vehicle form.

"How..." Beth frowned, then her eyes snapped over to Alex and narrowed dangerously. "Explain. _Now._ " Alex quickly complied, recognizing the Morgan family toughness from personal experience, and knowing it meant she was in danger of bodily injury.

"So...your truck is a giant alien robot, and so's the Porsche we've been driving around, which we've only been driving around because your truck told him to, since he's the leader of a whole bunch of alien robots that look like normal vehicles most of the time," Beth summarized once Alex was finished. They were both sitting on the ground now, with Optimus transformed and also sitting, though Cliffjumper evidently preferred to stand - right behind Alex, making her jump every time he made a noise. She suspected he was doing it on purpose.

"They prefer ‘mech’ over ‘robot’," Alex replied amiably.

"So what, are you really out having midnight chats with him whenever you supposedly go out to _sleep_ in the cab?" Beth asked, giving her sister a weird look, and Alex saw the other question that Beth was not about to voice with Optimus sitting a few dozen feet away, watching silently.

"No, I'm actually _sleeping_ ," Alex said, shaking her head at her sister and putting extra emphasis on the last word. Beth gave her anothersuspicious look. Alex almost exclaimed in Gaelic that she was in no way having kinky robot sex with her truck, but she knew Optimus would be able to translate it. So she tried to glare away her sister's suspicions. She could enforce her claim later verbally.

"How did you even find all this out?" Beth asked, apparently deciding to drop the topic for now.

"Uh, remember that accident I was in? Yeah, not an accident," Alex said wryly, and explained her first true meeting with Optimus. Beth was convulsing with silent laughter by the time Alex finished, proving Alex's suspicion that their dad would have found Optimus stalking her entertaining. Beth and he had shared a sense of humor.

"You...rock!" Beth managed to gasp out between convulsions, pointing at Optimus. Tears were forming in her eyes now from the strength of her laughter.

"Glad you find my paranoia so funny," Alex said with a sulk. She whipped her head around to glare at Cliffjumper as she heard a slight chuckle from him, too. When she turned back to Beth, her sister had abruptly calmed herself, and was sitting upright on the ground again. Alex eyed her suspiciously. Beth sat, straight-faced, for several moments, before a snicker escaped. She straightened her face again and held out for another few moments.

"Dad would be so proud!" Beth said before she collapsed again in silent laughter.

"Will she be alright?" Cliffjumper asked with mild concern as Beth continued to convulse on the ground, sticking his head over Alex to get a closer look at the laughter woman on the ground.

"Unfortunately," Alex growled.

\---

"Having a good night?" Mikaela asked with amusement a few days later as Alex stomped into the coffee shop where the teenager had a summer job. There was no one else in the shop, and she'd taken a taxi to it, so Alex felt completely safe in blowing her top, going on about how her sister found the Autobots entertaining, and was enjoying teasing Alex about Optimus stalking her and thought that Alex was now having kinky robot sex with him.

"W-what?" Mikaela sputtered as Alex got to that point, staring at the older truck driver in disbelief.

"Exactly," Alex said, sulking.

"Your sister...thinks you and Optimus..." Mikaela couldn't even finish, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh.

"I should've gone to Sarah," Alex said, still sulking.

"Well, y'know, he is sort of the tall and mysterious kind," Mikaela said, pulling her hand away from her mouth to reveal a wide grin.

"Yep, Sarah," Alex groaned.

\---

It didn't take long after that for Alex to remember why she'd so eagerly left to go trucking when her dad had died. Even while grieving for Josh, Beth was far too cheerful and girly for her, and was driving Alex crazy, especially since they were both around the house all day while Beth recovered. Four times, Alex declared should couldn't handle it anymore and stalked out to Optimus, but he refused to even let his engine start. He was firmly of the opinion that she was to stay with her sister until Beth was fully recovered. He even drove off and left her for a week after she'd put a dent in his door the third time.

Cliffjumper certainly wasn't helping, either. He got along wonderfully with Beth, claiming to find her refreshing. And somewhere along the line, Beth had voice her opinions to him about what Alex and Optimus really did when Alex slept out in the cab, and the Autobot had started slipping in innuendos when talking to Alex. Alex spent a lot more money on taxis after he started that. Optimus was, thankfully, blissfully ignorant to the reason Alex refused to ride in Cliffjumper unless absolutely necessary, and why she now snuck in and out of his cab only while Beth was asleep.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Alex, the doctor took off the last of Beth's bandages and announced her fit for duty. Alex didn't even mind the ride back to the house in Cliffjumper, glowing happily at the thought of finally escaping.

"I guess I have to go back to work now," Beth said mournfully as the two of them entered the house.

"Me too!" Alex said gleefully, but her glee vanished as she caught sight of Beth's face. "Aw, Beth..." She sighed, and Beth smiled sadly at her.

"It's been nice having you back here," she said. "I don't think...I couldn't have dealt if you hadn't been here the day of the accident."

"I would've been here as fast as I could when I found out, Beth. You wouldn't have had to go through this alone, even if I'd been up in Canada," Alex said softly.

"Thanks," Beth said, and gave her sister a hug. "But I know you're eager to get back out on the road with your giant robot lover." Alex let out a cry of outrage, and the two proceeded to chase each other around the house, chucking anything suitable at each other's heads as Alex tried to deny the accusation, and Beth sang elementary school songs about Alex and Optimus kissing. Which inevitably led to: "How do you even manage that? His mouth is like the size of your head. Gives a whole new meaning to sucking face."

Alex eventually gave in and just sat at the bottom of the stairs, clutching her knees to her chest and refusing to move as she glared balefully at Beth. Her sister went up to bed laughing, having to step over Alex to get there, and Alex waited for a few minutes before finally moving, heading up to her own room.

Alex left the next morning before Beth got up, wanting to avoid either a teary goodbye or more cracks about her and Optimus. Beth got in one last shot, though, as Alex found a crayon picture taped to the inside of the front door, showing her and Optimus, in his robot form, standing happily side by side - almost to scale - with a giant pink heart around them, along with stars and bunny rabbits. Alex didn't even want to know where her sister had gotten the crayons from, or when she'd drawn it. She flipped the picture over and scribbled a return drawing with a pencil, depicting her driving Optimus happily around in Asia, while Beth and Cliffjumper bopped each other with squeaky hammers in the States. She even put in the sound effects. Putting it on the fridge, Alex left, climbing into Optimus and finally being allowed to head down to the depot.

"Alex! Haven't seen you in a while! Your sister's better?" George greeted her when she pulled up.

"Unfortunately," Alex said wryly, and George chuckled. "Please tell me there's a trailer that needs to go to the other side of the world."

"Not quite, but there's one needing to get to Vancouver," he said.

"Perfect!" Alex declared, and quickly acquired its location and headed off.

It took about two days for Alex to start missing Beth, and Optimus noticed straight away. It wasn't all that hard - Alex abruptly flipped off the radio and spent the next mile staring broodily ahead, driving lazily enough that Optimus had to take over. She let him do so without comment, letting one hand rest on the wheel as she slumped back and stared out the windshield, thoughts elsewhere.

"I miss the annoying little irritant," Alex said finally.

"Elizabeth?" Optimus guessed, and Alex nodded. There was a pause. "You have a cellular phone."

"She's at work," Alex replied. There was another short stretch of silence, and then the radio flipped on again, the music softer than their usual. Optimus drove the rest of the day, and that night Alex had a two hour conversation with Beth over the phone.


	8. Jazz's Revenge and Strange Dreams

Alex was amazed how, after such a hectic year, her life settled down so quickly. She spent more time in Tranquility with Beth now, and Cliffjumper was somehow filling the hole Josh had left in Beth's life, though in an entirely different manner (though that didn't stop Alex from shooting right back with the kinky robot sex jokes - it really was a wonder Optimus hadn't heard about them yet).

Sam and Mikaela became regular visitors of Beth's as well, and Bobby, Will, and Sarah always stopped in when they were in town, all of them giving Alex an open invitation to stay at their houses if needed. She usually ended up just using their driveways and sleeping in Optimus' cab - something that had become more and more of a habit for her - but they didn't seem to mind, so long as she came in and visited. Which, save for the time she was hauling dangerous goods, Alex always did.

That one time was more due to the fact that Wheeljack happened to arrive right at that time, and was following Optimus around while he got his bearings. Ironhide and Ratchet swore they'd never heard Optimus more terrified than when he called them after Wheeljack had shown up behind him while he was hauling explosive materials. Alex found it entertaining, right up until she found out that several mysterious - and very large - explosions that had been on the news were Wheeljack's fault.

"We've decided it's his special power," Ratchet confided in Alex the next time she and Optimus passed near enough to the Hoover Dam - where Ratchet spent the majority of his time - to warrant a visit. "He knows instinctively how to make things blow up. And somehow not injure anyone in the process. Well, except for that one time with Bluestreak..." The medic turned thoughtful. "Actually, several times with Bluestreak."

"Do they not get along?" Alex asked curiously.

"No, they get along fine," Ratchet replied. "It's more the result of Bluestreak's continual chatter distracting Wheeljack while simultaneously not allowing him to get a warning in when he finally does realize something's going to explode."

"Right. Being with Wheeljack and Bluestreak in the same area is now filed with messing up Sunstreaker's paint job as things to avoid at all costs," Alex said decisively.

Of course, as their luck would have it, Bluestreak was the next one to come to earth, within days of Wheeljack.

"I just followed the trail of exploding Decepticons across the galaxy," Bluestreak explained when Alex and Optimus got a chance to meet with him a few weeks after his arrival. "Some of them were quite pretty, too. Jack's been experimenting with some chemicals, I think, or the Decepticons are putting some really weird stuff in their systems. I mean, a green and purple explosion? That was pretty nifty, but I got some really weird energy readings off the residue, so I stayed clear, but then there was this other one that made this sort of rainbow explosion, and there were these weird little space birds that just ate up all the remains from that. Which wasn't all that fun once some of the residue landed on me, since then they tried to eat me. I had to shoot some of them off, and I swear they thought dodging plasma blasts was fun, the way they followed me around after that..."

Alex was left to stare in wonder as Bluestreak proved that when one didn't have to breathe, they really _could_ go on forever. Optimus eventually had to interrupt the smaller Autobot, telling him he was free to roam around the States, though he should stay close to the other Autobots. And he was under no circumstances allowed near the Hoover Dam, where Wheeljack had joined Ratchet. Human construction was not as durable as Cybertronian.

"So are you, Ironhide, Bumblebee and Ratchet the only 'normal' Autobots?" Alex couldn't help but ask the next day after they left Bluestreak to find his own way and continued on their own. There was a funny hitch in Optimus' engine, followed by laughter.

"No. It just so happens that four of the oddest Autobots have been the first four to reach us," he said with amusement.

"Uh-huh, right," Alex said disbelievingly.

"It's incredibly unlikely, I know," Optimus said wryly. "Ratchet's still muttering about the probability of it, and Ironhide's insisting it's Jazz's revenge."

"Revenge? How?" Alex asked with amusement.

"Jazz found practically everything entertaining, but especially the twins, Wheeljack, and Bluestreak. The fact that they were so likeable, and yet so irritating, to the rest of us just made them more entertaining to him," Optimus grumbled. Alex chuckled.

Despite the two new Autobots, there was very little other Cybertronian activity. Lennox reported that the government was having trouble with a few F-22s, one of which was painted in distinctly non-military colours, but Optimus said it was only Thundercracker and Skywarp. Fortunately they seemed content to just lead the USAF on merry chases before figuratively thumbing their noses at them and taking off for the upper atmosphere, where the other F-22s couldn't go. The Autobots generally decided that the two Seekers were probably bored, but unwilling to bait the Autobots without a medic of their own on the planet.

Barricade hadn't been seen since Bumblebee had almost destroyed him - there was a betting pool going among the Autobots (though Alex wasn't quite sure what they were betting with) for whether the Decepticon had died from his wounds, or was still getting repaired. Optimus suspected that the attack on him had been Skywarp’s abortive attempt to take command of the Decepticons on Earth, and now he was sulking while waiting for a real leader to show up.

When dealing with giant alien robots in the middle of a civil war with each other, life cannot remain very calm for very long however. Not that Alex realized anything was wrong at first - everybody has weird dreams every once and awhile. Usually their subconscious doesn't have the material to involve giant alien robots in them, but Alex's did, and so she thought nothing of it...until she realized she'd been having the same dream for a month straight, and that she'd started having it almost a year to the day after she'd first seen Optimus transform.

"Do you dream?" Alex asked suddenly one day as she was driving down the highway, brooding about the dream. "No, wait, first question - do you sleep?"

"We recharge, but the principle is the same as sleep," Optimus replied. "We do not dream, however."

"Huh," Alex said thoughtfully, and that was all she said about it until she was back in Tranquility, where she unobtrusively pulled Sam off to the side during one of his and Mikaela's visit and asked him if he'd had any strange, recurring dreams since he'd met the Autobots.

"No. But I didn't have one fall on me," he said wryly. "Could be a delayed reaction. PTSD."

"I doubt it - otherwise they'd been rather nightmarish, I'd think. And PTSD has other symptoms," Alex replied thoughtfully, and Sam shrugged in reply.

"Ask Optimus," was his reply, which was no help at all, since how did one discuss dreams with a being who didn't dream? Alex decided to just get some pills from a doctor to help her sleep dreamlessly and hope that was the end of it.

It wasn't, though - the pills didn't block out the dreams at all. It was while puzzling over this that Alex realized she was having lucid dreams, of a sort - she had an extraordinary amount of control over them, though she never realized it was a dream until after she woke up. She could remember actually deciding whether or not she wanted to do things. Shortly after that realization was when the dream changed.

At first, it seemed the same. She stood in a black space, abnormally aware of herself and that this was a dream. She could see herself, but nothing else - then white lines appeared around her, whisking past, going in all directions, until they began pulling back the blackness. A silver dessert was revealed, the metallic, powdery ground crumbling beneath her feet if she choose to walk anywhere. Regardless of if she moved or not, two or more of the Autobots would inevitably appear, standing still as statues - usually.

This night, the Autobots were moving. Ironhide, Optimus, and Sunstreaker were in the dream. Sunstreaker was pacing in circles, while Ironhide sat on one of the few features of the desert, a giant rock, and watched, seeming amused and irritated at the same time. Optimus' head was the only part of him that moved, looking between the two other mechs.

In the dreams before, Alex had walked around, through, and under the Autobots, until finally the lines reappeared, bringing back the blackness. Now, she was hesitant to approach them, and stayed where she was, watching until the lines returned and all was blackness. Alex was particularly silent the next day, and Optimus played rather lonely songs all day long, letting her know that he'd noticed. But she said nothing.

It took Alex a long time to go to sleep that night. Some part of her hoped that the change in the dream had signaled its end, that she wouldn't have it anymore, but another part of her was curious to see if it changed more tonight. She inevitably fell asleep still thinking about the dream, and so it was unsurprising when it began again.

The Autobots were moving again - Cliffjumper and Sunstreaker tonight, and once again, Sunstreaker seemed agitated, pacing in circles. Cliffjumper seemed entertained. Alex didn't hang back this time, but stepped forward as she had before the Autobots had begun moving, intending to do her usual walk around them before the dream ended. She paused as she neared them however, realizing she could hear them talking tonight.

"-ish he’d just tell them. I’m getting tired of having him yell at me for just doing my fragging job!" Sunstreaker said as Alex stopped a short distance away. He went on some more, and Alex gathered that, according to this dream, Bobby was refusing to tell his children about the Autobots, and it was irritating Sunstreaker.

"You could just force his hand," Cliffjumper finally said. "I did with Alex and Beth."

"Apparently, according to Ratchet, that was an entirely different situation," Sunstreaker growled in annoyance. "Beth and Alex are sisters – they look out for each other, but neither is in a position of familial control over the other. Because Bobby is their parent, however, he apparently has absolute control over their lives or some such slag, meaning that it would be a gross breach of human social customs for me to tell his children without his consent." Alex frowned, unconsciously stepping further forward to hear more. She froze when Cliffjumper suddenly turned to look right at her. Shock crossed his face, and a moment later, Sunstreaker’s rant paused as he turned to see what had caught the other Autobot’s attention.

 _"Alex? What..."_ Cliffjumper and Sunstreaker suddenly dissolved in the mesh of lines, and Alex was woken up by a blaring stereo.

"I'm up, I'm UP!" she roared over the radio to Optimus, who immediately turned it off.

"Get out," he said somewhat roughly, and Alex blinked it surprise before numbly doing as told, hardly stopping to think about it. Her bare feet had just touched the ground when Optimus began transforming, and Alex panicked for a moment before remembering she was parked at a rest stop in the Rockies, having pushed herself a little too far today and been ordered by Optimus to get some sleep. Then she jumped back as Optimus brought his face close to hers, something he hadn't done in awhile, ever since he'd realized she'd become accustomed to talking with him even when he was several dozen feet above her.

"You have been having the same dream for how long?" he asked unexpectedly, and Alex blinked.

"How did you -"

"How long?" Optimus interrupted.

"Uh, two months," Alex replied. "Though it's, uh, changed the last two nights."

"In your dream, you see a metallic desert and Autobots?" Optimus asked, and Alex just stared.

"How did you..." she trailed off in confusion, and Optimus let out an odd sound before drawing back. There was a long stretch of silence as Alex stood in the mountain air, confused, and Optimus seemed to be trying to bore a hole in the side of the mountain with his gaze.

"We Autobots have a communications network that spans the planet, and even reaches some distance into space," he said suddenly. "Normally it is just vocal or text, but should we choose, we can enter into, as you would term it, a sort of virtual reality environment."

"What does -" Alex started, but was stopped by a stern look from Optimus.

"This environment is given the shape of one of the major landmarks of Cybertron - a metallic desert, known to us as the Sinter Expanse. It was a barren place by your standards, but it was also beautiful," he said. "Not all of us go to this environment every night, usually only a few. Tonight, it was only two." Optimus brought his head back down to look at Alex, who was standing very still, not liking where this was going. "I woke you when I received a panicked voice communication from Cliffjumper saying that he and Sunstreaker had seen you in this virtual environment tonight."

"No way," Alex said in a whisper. "That was just a _dream_!"

"Apparently it was not. Sunstreaker was complaining about Bobby's children?" Optimus asked, and Alex whimpered slightly.

"You've got to be joking," she said. "How can this even _happen?!_ "

"I do not know," Optimus replied, pulling back. "Perhaps it is how much time you spend in close proximity to me, as compared with the others."

"Then why did I still have the dream even when _you_ weren't in it?" Alex asked as Optimus transformed again. He swung open his passenger side door and Alex climbed in.

"I don't know, but it is something that needs to be investigated," Optimus replied firmly as Alex crawled into the back. "You may need to find another truck to drive." Alex didn't even notice the odd catch in Optimus' voice as he said that - she just stared at the dark stereo for a long time after that, trying to pretend she hadn't even heard what he had last said. She hadn't been driving Optimus anywhere near as long as she'd driven her father's truck, but somehow she felt worse about just the prospect of having to give Optimus up than she had when George had given her the news that her father's truck was beyond repair.

Eventually, she turned away from the stereo and lay down, trying to get some more sleep. With the memory of the dream and what it really was so fresh in her mind, she found herself unable to sleep, tossing and turning uneasily before finally getting up and just sitting in the front seat, staring out the windshield. Optimus' engine came to life as soon as she'd settled in, and she obligingly did up her seatbelt as he rolled out, driving for her.

Normally there would have been another three days travel to Cincinnati, where Alex's current trailer was destined for, but she was unable to sleep more than a few hours, and Optimus drove anytime she was awake, so the trip took less than two days. Nick, the depot manager in Cincinnati, was concerned when he saw how tired Alex was, but she brushed off his offer to call a taxi and climbed back into Optimus. She had a feeling that now that her trailer had been delivered, it was the Prime's show.

She was right. Optimus pulled out as soon as she'd buckled her seatbelt, then set off down the road at the highest speed he could safely use in the city. Alex was somewhat surprised when he took her out of the city, wondering for a moment if he was taking her home - but no, there was a military base not far from here, and he pulled in there, getting Alex to move over and activating his hologram before entering.

Several army officers were waiting for her, and Alex hesitated before climbing out of the cab. A soothing song came from Optimus' radio, and with a sigh, Alex got out. The officers said little to her, besides asking her to follow them, and she suspected that they had even less of an idea of what was going on than her. They were just followiing orders as they escorted her to a waiting helicopter.

The helicopter took off with Alex the only passenger, the pilot and co-pilot being very non-communicative about their destination. Alex fumed in the back at that, thinking that Optimus could have said something about what was going on before he sent her off - but then, she could have asked, too. With a sigh, Alex resigned herself to being confused, and attempted with surprising success to doze in the back of the 'copter.

She woke with a start some time later, looking out to see they were approaching Hoover Dam. Alex frowned, wondering why Optimus would send her to a facility where two Autobots stayed permanently if he was worried about her being around him, but she didn’t have much time to think about it as the helicopter landed. The door opened, Alex was helped out, and she found herself presented with two military officers and a doctor.

"Alexandra Morgan?" The oldest of the two officers stepped forward, and Alex blinked blearily until the stars on his shoulders came into focus, then straightened self-consciously, wishing she'd had time to neaten up somewhere along the line.

"Alex," she corrected him to cover how uncomfortable she suddenly was.

"I'm General Jordan, commander of the Hoover Dam facilities. This is my second in command, Colonel Latimer," the general said, motioning to the other military man, then nodded towards the doctor. "This is Doctor Adair, who will be looking after you during your stay here."

"Please, call me Emily," the doctor said with a warm smile, holding out her hand, and Alex stared at it blankly for a few moments before giving it a brief shake.

"If you'll come with us, we'll take you into the facility, where we can see about answering some of the questions I'm sure you have," the general said, motioning to two black SUVs sitting nearby. Alex had a nervous flash of Ironhide, and shook her head to clear it. The general frowned at her, taking that as a refusal.

"Sorry, just...tired," she said, heading for the vehicle, and the general nodded.

"Understood," he said, then followed Alex as she headed for the nearest SUV. She and the doctor got inside, while the general and colonel got in the other vehicle. They set off as soon as the last door was closed, heading for the dam. They reached it quickly, and Emily escorted Alex out of the SUV and right down to a rather small infirmary. The general and colonel followed, but Emily held them back at the entrance and they went away after a brief conversation, leaving Alex and the doctor alone in the infirmary.

"You look exhausted," the doctor said, leading Alex over to the nearest bed. Alex let herself be led, but only up to sitting on the bed, refusing to lie down.

"I'd really like to know what's going on," Alex said in explanation as the doctor frowned at her.

"He didn't tell you anything?" Emily said, continuing to frown, and it took Alex a moment to decide that the 'he' the doctor was referring to was Optimus.

"No, not really," Alex said. "I didn't exactly ask, though."

"Lord, he always has to keep up the mysterious leader act, doesn't he?" Emily said with a roll of her eyes, and Alex blinked.

"You know Optimus?" she asked, and Emily nodded.

"Not as well as you, but I’ve spoken with him on several occasions during my studies with Ratchet. Plus Ratchet isn’t shy about regaling us with stories. When he’s not interested in discussing the biology of either of our species, in sometimes embaressing detail," she said wryly. Alex let out a weak laugh.

"Yeah, I've heard he's like that," she said, having only encountered the Autobot medic a few times, and during all of them he'd been well behaved and kept the conversation to generic small-talk, such as the conversation about Wheeljack and Blueestreak.

"Yeah. He's better than Wheeljack, though - the first time he offered to rebuild one of my machines to make it more efficient, I was inordinately pleased. Then it exploded in my face when I was testing it. Fortunately, I only lost a bit of hair and my eyebrows," Emily said with a sigh. "He's been banned from touching any medical equipment since then." Alex snickered.

"Be glad Bluestreak isn't around - apparently he distracts Wheeljack, making the explosions more common."

"Duly noted," Emily replied with a wince. " I imagine you'd like to know why you're here now though, since Optimus didn't explain to you." Alex nodded. "I'm going to assume that he at least told you that you'd managed to tap into the Autobots' VCE - their virtual communication environment?"

"That much, yeah," Alex said with a shrug.

"Good. According to the Autobot grapevine, Optimus thinks that you being in close proximity to a spark so constantly might be what's causing this, and he's worried that it might have some sort of adverse affect on you," Emily explained. "He basically wants me to run every test we have on you to see if I can find anything, be it a side affect or a cause. This is going to, at some point, include having you sleep and enter the VCE. But until then, the Autobots have agreed to stay out of the VCE so you don't have to worry about sleeping." Alex blinked, then adopted an annoyed look.

"And he didn't think to - bah, he probably wanted me to get here faster," she grumbled, answering her own question, and Emily gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I wondered if he'd mentioned that part. Do you feel up to sleeping now?" the doctor asked, showing that she'd known exactly why Alex hadn't wanted to go to sleep earlier.

"Yes, please," Alex said fervently, and Emily chuckled slightly.

"Alright, I'll turn off the lights in here so you can get some rest, then. I'll probably be in my office across the hall when you wake up. Feel free to come see me, or you can wait here. You might not want to go wandering off until you've gotten your ID badge and been given a tour, though," she said, and Alex nodded. Emily said goodnight after that and headed out, flipping off the lights as she went, leaving Alex with only the red glow of the emergency lights. She looked at them for a moment, thinking of Decepticon eyes and wondering why no one else made that connection and had thought to change them, before letting out a quiet snort of amusement at herself and removing her shoes before laying down to sleep.


	9. Unnatural Fixations and the Escaping Test Subject

Optimus was standing on the side of one of the mountains overlooking Hoover Dam, brooding as he looked down at it. Alexandra was inside, he knew, as were Ratchet and Wheeljack, helping Doctor Adair try to determine how his charge could appear inside the Autobots' VCE. According to his own orders, Optimus wasn't even supposed to be in this state, let alone this close to the dam - but if he masked his location over the network and didn't tell them, nobody would know where he was.

Not that this soothed him any - he was troubled by the test results that Adair was coming up with already. They showed a high amount of Allspark radiation present in Alexandra, far more than should have been safe for a human, or for any humans to be around her. Adair had panicked and put Alexandra in a containment room when she'd first seen the amount of radiation, but it was only a few days before she realized that while Alexandra contained a large amount of this radiation, she - like the Autobots - was not actually radioactive. What's more, the radioactivity didn't seem to be damaging Alexandra. Ratchet had explained to the other Autobots that exposure to high amounts (or even constant exposure to small amounts) of radioactivity usually caused humans to develop cancerous growths, and/or sores and burns, which would inevitably kill them. Alexandra had no signs of either.

Currently, Wheeljack was completing a test to determine how long the radiation had been inside Alexandra. Optimus didn't really think the test was necessary - he'd all but decided that the answer was approximately sixteen months. Since she'd met him. There was hardly any other explanation. All Optimus could do now was wait to be told he was responsible for this change in Alexandra. It bothered him, despite the lack in obvious negative side effects for Alexandra.

Perhaps it was that all the other Autobots had found human companions, but the test would prove that, simply because he was so large and had to choose a form of equal size, he would have to stay away from that sort of friendship with a human - who would have a truck that wouldn't use without getting the explanation first, after all? Or perhaps it was just the attachment he already had to Alexandra, and the thought of losing it - for while the radiation wasn't causing any side affects now, Optimus was not about to risk it causing problems later.

 _"Optimus,"_ Ratchet's voice over his communications system brought Optimus out of his thoughts.

 _"Yes?"_ he asked, and there was a moment of silence from the medic. Then Optimus blinked as he saw Ratchet's distinctive head appear over the dam, locking onto him easily. He had forgotten how the medic maintained a constant override on the comm net’s location protocols – he was more paranoid than Red Alert about making sure he knew where all of his comrades were, sometimes.

 _"You're not supposed to be here - but since you are, you might as well come in and hear this,"_ Ratchet said disapprovingly.

Optimus didn't reply, simply beginning his climb down the side of the mountain and carefully making his way to the exposed side of the dam, where there was an entrance big enough for Autobots to enter. He entered to the disapproving looks of both medic and doctor, and he ignored them both, his optics finding Alexandra almost immediately. She was sitting in a chair, chewing gum, and smiled half-heartedly at Optimus. She looked better than when he'd last seen her, though - Ratchet said that she'd started sleeping again once she was assured the Autobots would stay out of the VCE. Wheeljack, as usual, was blissfully ignorant to any tension in the room, seeming fascinated by something on his datapad.

"Alright, now that we're all here, even if some of us aren't supposed to be -" Doctor Adair said pointedly, and Optimus gave her a flat look, which she ignored as thoroughly as he'd ignored the disapproving looks earlier. "Wheeljack?"

"You two first met when, exactly?" the scientist asked, looking expectantly between Alexandra and Optimus.

"Fifteen months, 23 days ago," Alexandra replied before Optimus could say anything. Optimus gave her a curious look, not expecting her to have remembered so precisely. She shrugged. "My dad's truck died that day. The date kind of stuck in my mind." Optimus nodded briefly.

"Right, well, Allspark radiation has a very rigid and highly studied decay rate, so I can tell you with certainty that according to the test, it's only been present in Alexandra's system for fourteen months," Wheeljack said. Optimus and Alexandra both stared as the scientist for a moment.

"So what, it's not there because I spent so much time around Optimus?" Alexandra asked finally.

"It could be it just took that long to take hold in you, but that seems unlikely. You humans have no natural radiation shielding that would cause such a delay. I would be more inclined to suspect that another event is at fault here than the two of you meeting. Did anything unusual happen fourteen months ago?" Wheeljack asked.

"You mean besides my supposedly normal truck turning into a freaking giant alien robot?" Alexandra asked dryly.

"His first transformation around you?" Adair asked curiously, and Alexandra nodded.

"Though I wasn't all that near him at the time. Too busy sliding along the ground getting scraped up," she said, and Adair blinked. "I jumped out." Adair gave her an odd look. "Barricade was coming straight at us?" Adair continued to give Alexandra an odd look. "Never mind," the trucker huffed, and Optimus held back a smile, while the other two Autobots just nodded in understanding.

"So that was his first transformation around you...but that can't have been the cause," Adair said, turning to Wheeljack. "I've had the opportunity to examine numerous people who have been around transforming Cybertronians. Neither of them have the Allspark radiation in them - though I really would have expected Sam Witwicky too, after he held the Allspark to Megatron's chest like that." Optimus rumbled his agreement - he had expected Sam would experience some side affect from that, but the boy was fine. Instead it was Alexandra, who hadn't even known about Autobots and Decepticons when the Allspark was destroyed, who had the radiation in her.

"Perhaps something happened in the battle?" Ratchet suggested, then glared at Alexandra. "Sam mentioned you got close to the action."

"Yeah, trying to stop Barricade and Bumblebee from trashing my trailer, not that it worked," Alexandra said sourly.

"Bumblebee? Wait, how many Autobots and Decepticons were there?" Adair asked, clearly confused.

"There was only Bumblebee, Barricade, Skywarp, and myself," Optimus replied for Alexandra.

"Skywarp? Doesn’t he have some sort of unique teleportation ability?" Adair asked sharply, but Ratchet and Wheeljack were already shaking their heads.

"While Skywarp’s ability is a spark gift, it has never left any trace of Allspark radiation. We’ve studied it enough to try and find a way to block it that we know that much for certain," Ratchet said.

"Alright, did anything odd happen during the battle, then?" Adair asked, starting to sound slightly frustrated as they failed to come up with a cause. Alexandra and Optimus exchanged glances.

"My trailer got squashed?" Alexandra suggested after a moment.

"You are unnaturally fixated on that event," Optimus felt the need to point out.

"Well I even warned...them..." Alexandra trailed off, understanding seeming to dawn on her face. Then something truly odd happened - Alexandra's eyes, normally a warm brown in colour, flared to a bright blue, and Optimus was hearing her over audio-only portion of the communications network. _"Bumblebee, didn't Barricade fall on me during that first battle where I met you?"_

Bumblebee didn't even have time to reply before Alexandra's eyes returned her their normal colour and she jerked backwards on her chair, falling over. Though the communications network hadn’t been noisy to start with, it went completely silent, as did the room where Optimus, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Alexandra and Doctor Adair stood. Alexandra, lying on the floor, was the one to break the silence in the room.

"Holy crap," she said faintly.

"What just happened?" Adair asked, realizing from the sudden stillness that something had happened that she wasn't privvy to.

"Uh." Alexandra slowly managed to get to her feet, but left the chair she'd been sitting on lying on the floor as she stared up at Optimus. "Did I just...do what I thought I did?"

"Yes," Optimus replied, just as the silence on the communications network was broken by Sunstreaker, demanding to know how Alexandra had managed to speak over their audio channel. The disconcerted look on Alexandra's face told Optimus that she'd heard the comment, and so he motioned for Ratchet to explain to Adair while he settled the Autobots.

 _"Optimus, Alexandra was correct. Barricade did fall on her during the battle,"_ Bumblebee said once they'd finished explaining what they knew. _"I was surprised she wasn't crushed, but most of Barricade's frontal armor was gone or damaged by that point, so I assumed that she'd been lucky enough to be standing in a spot where some space in Barricade's internals allowed her to remain untouched."_

 _"Interesting,"_ Optimus said, returning his attention to Adair and Alexandra, the former of which was trying to drag Alexandra off for some more tests. Alexandra was standing firm, even as she distractedly listened to the communications net as the Autobots spoke. "You heard?" Optimus asked, just to be sure, and Alexandra nodded vaguely.

"Yeah. I was a little fuzzy on what happened, but I thought I remembered that. I thought I was being electrocuted at the time," Alexandra said with a frown, and as one, Autobots and humans stilled. Alexandra, not understanding the importance of what she’d said, frowned at the significant looks being exchanged. "What? What did I say?" she demanded. Instead of replying, Optimus turned his attention to the communications network.

 _"Bumblebee,"_ the Prime asked slowly, _"Was Barricade's spark exposed during the battle?"_ There was a moment of silence.

 _"It was exposed at some point in the battle after I ripped off his frontal armor - I'm not sure exactly when,"_ the scout replied.

 _"Is it possible that it was exposed when he fell on Alexandra, and that the space she was standing in was the space where the cavity containing Barricade's spark fell?"_ Optimus asked.

 _"Yes,"_ Bumblebee replied after another moment, and Optimus turned his optics to Adair.

"I think we may have determined where the radiation came from," he said.

\---

Alex was lying in the infirmary, willing herself to sleep. After the discovery that afternoon - and her unexplained conscious access to the Autobots communications network - Emily had decided that it was time to take some readings on her while she connected to the network. Based on her previous tests, and with the source of the radiation in Alex discovered, Emily had concluded that Alex was not actually in any danger being around Autobots - there might be danger when she connected to the network, however, and so Emily had arranged this test.

Optimus and Bumblebee would enter the virtual communication environment tonight, and Alex was supposed to join them to have a nice long chat so Emily could take her readings - unless, of course, she found something dangerous. Ratchet was standing by to alert Optimus and Bumblebee if that happened, so they could pull out, while Wheeljack was...well, he'd made off with every test result Adair could give him and locked himself in the large room he'd appropriated as a lab.

Unfortunately, things were not going according to plan, as Alex was too nervous and worked-up to sleep. Emily didn't want to put any drugs in her system, since that might change the readings, so now they were all waiting for Alex to fall asleep naturally...which didn't help in the slightest. Irritated, Alex eventually got up and ripped off all the sensors Emily had put on her. The doctor immediately emerged from the next room, where she'd been monitoring.

"Alex, what are you doing?" she asked in surprise.

"Can't sleep. I'm going for a run to try and tire myself out," Alex replied.

"Oh. There's a gym a few levels up."

"I remember," Alex said with a grin. "But I figured I'd just scare the night staff." Emily chuckled and said no more as Alex set off.

Alex was not used to running - her exercise usually consisted of carrying heavy boxes or loosening stiff bolts. Job-related exercise, in other words. So she found herself cramping and out of breath quickly, and ended up slowing to a brisk walk to keep going, stopping by the dam's mess hall to get some water periodically. As she went, Alex thought, not just about the current situation, but about her life since her dad's truck had finally broken down.

She couldn't help but think how like a science fiction story her life had become, and that it should have seemed much odder to her, should have unsettled her more. It didn't, though. Alex wondered if it was just one long, continuous case of mild shock, or if she, and humans, were really as adaptable as all those science fiction writers claimed. She wondered what Optimus' opinion would be on that subject - and then shook her head, realizing what she'd just been considering. It was another sign of how used to the Autobots, to Optimus, she'd become.

And wasn’t that a shocker, becoming friends with an alien. Alex had never been one to make friends – well, not close ones. She lived a mobile life, and keeping friends with that type of lifestyle was hard. Unless, of course, your truck happened to be a sentient being who just happened to be the type of personality you could be friends with. Alex snickered to herself as she mused that the odds that she and Optimus would get along, given the random circumstances of their meeting, must have been astromical.

Still, they had, and it was proving to be one of the most valuable friendships Alex could remember having. She hadn’t exactly been on a downward spiral in her life before, but Optimus brought out the best in her just by being himself. He was inspiring as a friend, just as he was as a leader, she suspected. Plus, he had good taste in music, which was always important. Alex grinned.

She ran and walked around the base for over an hour - one or two times giving in and running at the cleaning staff and yelling that the sky was falling, which usually earned her surprised looks followed by rude gestures. It seemed they were harder to scare than the night staff at her High School. Pity.

When Alex returned to the infirmary, she was thoroughly tired, and stayed awake just long enough for Emily to re-attach the sensors, falling asleep the instant the doctor left the room. The 'dream' began almost immediately - Optimus and Bumblebee had probably been waiting. She didn't even hesitate this time before walking over to them, and they looked down at her as she entered their field of view.

 _"Hi guys,"_ Alex said non-chalantly, waving.

 _"Hello Alexandra,"_ Optimus said with a nod of his head.

 _"Sam wants to know if you can teach him how to do this,"_ Bumblebee said by way of greeting. Alex snorted.

 _"Considering that he'd have to have Barricade, or presumably any of the Autobots or Decepticons, fall on him in order to be able to learn – no,"_ she said. _"Plus, does he really want to go through all the tests I've just gone through? I haven't seen the sun since I first stepped inside this damn dam."_ The two Autobots looked disconcerted at the homonyms, but seemed to get the meaning.

 _"I don't think he would. I'll have to point that out to him,"_ Bumblebee said.

_"Yes, please do. I don't want him badgering me to show him how to get radiated and then mysteriously develop the ability to talk to you guys through virtual communications networks."_

_"And apparently vocal, as well,"_ Optimus pointed out.

 _"Thank you so much for reminding me of that - I don't even know how I did it,"_ Alex said with a groan. _"All I know was that I was about to ask Optimus to ask you about Barricade falling on me, Bumblebee, and then I was just...asking you directly, and somehow knew that you could hear me."_

 _"Odd. That would imply that you were receiving the signals the network constantly exchanges to let us know who's still listening to it,"_ Optimus said with a frown.

 _"And that her brain could then process those signals,"_ Bumblebee added.

 _"Wha?"_ Alex asked cluelessly. Bumblebee and Optimus then proceeded to explain to Alex, in detail, how their communications network worked. Alex wasn't really interested, but they were trying hard to put it in terms she could understand, and she _did_ need to stay here awhile so that Emily could get her readings. Eventually, they either realized she had no interest or finished the explanation, however, as they went on to other topics, exchanging news about the other Autobots before Optimus suddenly straightened.

 _"Ratchet says that Emily has all the data she needs, and that we are to leave you to get some real rest now,"_ he said after a moment.

 _"Oh, ok,"_ Alex said, and a moment later, the environment dissolved around her, the peaceful oblivion of sleep enveloping her.

\---

Optimus was silent as Doctor Adair excitedly explained to him, Ratchet and Alexandra what she'd found the night before, when Alexandra had entered the virtual environment with Optimus and Bumblebee. Wheeljack was absent, still locked in his lab and not replying to questions via the communications network, so most of the terms the two medics used Optimus had to look up, not knowing them off-hand.

From what Optimus could tell however, the doctor was saying that entering the environment did not have an adverse affect on Alexandra - in fact, it had the opposite effect, actually healing her body and boosting it to a healthier state. Adair said she wouldn't have even found out about the healing factor if Alexandra hadn't strained a few muscles during her run before going to sleep, a happy coincidence she thanked Alexandra for before continuing with more medical jargon, though Ratchet was clearly the only one listening. Alexandra was pretending she was listening, but she kept glancing up at Optimus - it didn't take a super-intelligent robot to figure out that she wanted to talk to him.

Considering that, it didn't take much for Optimus to have an idle thought about trying to contact Alexandra privately over the communications network, instead of having her contact the Autobot first. The idle thought grew into a more solid plan as Optimus realized that Ratchet and Adair were going to be talking for awhile, and he couldn't exactly leave. It took him a few minutes to decide to try it, then another fifteen to convince himself that if Adair was currently going on about how the virtual environment had been so beneficial to Alexandra, the vocal one surely couldn't hurt.

 _"Alexandra."_ Optimus knew he'd succeeded when he saw her jump slightly, then when she looked up at him, her eyes were glowing blue again. Curious, that was - it the only visible physical evidence of the spark radiation, except to specialized Autobot sensors.

 _"Do you understand anything they're saying?"_ Alexandra asked, and Optimus cycled his optics. He’d forgotten that she was probably as lost as he was without his internet connection, even if she was listening.

 _"They're saying you'll be fine,"_ he summarized _. "The spark energy was helpful, not harmful, according to Doctor Adair's tests."_

 _"Oh, ok, nice to know, not like I needed to or anything, I'm only the person with the damn spark radiation in me,"_ Alexandra grumbled sarcastically. Optimus smiled slightly.

_"I'm sure Adair would have explained later if you had asked."_

_"Yeah, after everyone else knew_." Alexandra shook her head. _"How are we even doing this?"_

 _"As Bumblebee and I told you last night, there are three forms of non-verbal communication between Cybertronians - the virtual environment, the group network, and this, the private channels,"_ Optimus said, is tone mildly scolding. He’d known she hadn’t been paying attention the night before, despite the fact that it had been information she was likely to need in the future. She had the grace to look somewhat embaressed as she replied.

 _"Oh, right."_ There was a long pause, and when she spoke up again, her voice was curiously flat. _"So I take it this means I won't have to go buy another truck?"_

 _"No. My only concern was that continual proximity to my spark might cause you harm,"_ Optimus said. _"Since we have determined the spark radiation inside you did not come from me, and that it is not causing you harm, I see no reason for you to find another truck."_

 _"Good,"_ Alexandra said emphatically. _"Now that that’s out of the way – do you think you could maybe tell me what’s going on the next time you turf me out of your cab and into the hands of the military?"_

 _"You didn’t express any interest in the planned events at the time,"_ Optimus said, surprised at the anger Alexandra’s mental voice. She snorted, mentally and out loud.

 _"You know better than anyone how much sleep I was getting, Optimus – and oh, while I’m on the topic, thanks for telling me that you’d ordered the other Autobots to stay out of the virtual environment after the first night."_ Alexandra seemed to be getting worked up into a full-fledged rant, but was stopped by Doctor Adair, who had heard Alexandra’s snort and come to investigate.

"What exactly do you think you are you doing, Miss Morgan?" the doctor said dangerously as she stood over Alexandra menacingly. The blue light in Alexandra's eyes vanished instantly as she looked up at the doctor with wide eyes.

"It was Optimus!" Alexandra said after a moment, pointing to the Autobot leader. He gave her a look, and she just arched an eyebrow in return once Adair turned her glare to Optimus.

"Just because I can't see any immediate effects doesn't mean there might not be some cumulative ones," Adair scolded. "Alex doesn't exactly have any control over this at the moment, so her night time visits can't be helped, but during the day, I expect you two to rely on verbal communication!"

"Of course, Doctor. I was merely attempting to discover if we could contact Alexandra, even as she could contact us," Optimus replied respectfully.

"Oh. And you can?" Adair asked curiously, instantly interested.

"Evidently," Optimus replied.

"Interesting. I wonder how the interfacing between our communications programs and her brain is managed?" Ratchet mused, bringing his face close to Alexandra, as if he might be able to see it happening. Alexandra stared back at him without blinking, until he finally moved.

"Perhaps we should -" Adair was cut off by Alexandra.

"No! No more tests! I've been in this dam for two weeks, undergoing more tests than I thought existed!" she said firmly. "Now that we've established that I'm not dying or mutating or whatever, I am going to get back to work! I'll stop in every once and awhile so you can do some check-ups, but for now, I'm leaving." Adair blinked.

"We still need to check for cumulative effects, and I'm sure you would like to try and learn how to control this -" Adair was cut off by Alexandra raising a hand in the doctor's direction, a gesture Optimus still hadn't quite figured out the meaning of, despite knowing that it usually resulted in the recipient shutting up.

"If you haven't detected cumulative effects so far, you're not going to unless I stay here awhile, and I do need to get back to work eventually. I'll stop in every month or so as my routes allow for you to take readings," Alexandra said. "As for learning how to control it, I have a feeling the Autobots will be more help than you with that, and oh look, the truck I need to do my job just happens to be an Autobot!" Adair frowned at Alexandra, but after a moment, gave in with a sigh.

"Oh alright," she said. "I suppose I have sort of been holding you here as a test subject."

"Sort of?" Alexandra asked plaintively, sounding truly pathetic as she continued, "I haven't even seen the sun since I got here!" Adair rolled her eyes.

"Alright, get out of here already," the doctor said with amusement, making shooing motions. Alexandra grinned, snapping off a sloppy salute to the doctor, who grumbled something about smartasses, before Alexandra turned to Optimus. "I'm going to get my things, I'll meet you up top." Optimus nodded, and Alexandra whirled and left.

"Make sure she gets back here every month, Optimus. At least for now," Ratchet said once she was gone.

"Of course, Ratchet," Optimus replied, and the medic nodded, staring thoughtfully off in the direction Alexandra had gone. Optimus said goodbye to Doctor Adair, then left the dam and headed up the side of the mountain to the road, where he transformed into his truck form and waited for Alexandra.


	10. Seekers and the Matrix

Alex sighed happily as she steered Optimus past a car that was going about half the speed limit. It was good to be back on the road, even if she hadn't picked up another trailer yet. She didn't know why she'd missed it so much while inside the dam, when it hadn't really bothered her when she'd been at Beth's for longer - she suspected that it was the lack of distraction in the dam. Probably the lack of Optimus' company, too - he'd put himself on a temporary exile, and Alex had missed him. Even though they rarely talked on the highways, his silent presence was something she'd become used to.

"Where are we going?" The question from the radio startled Alex out of her thoughts, and she glanced down and blinked before returning her attention to the road.

Optimus had been silent for the last two hours, since Alex had picked up her rant from where Emily had interrupted it, telling him off for making her lose sleep and then using that to get away with not explaining what was going on. He'd meekly apologized - something Alex wished she'd had a tape-recorder on hand for, just so she could prove it had happened - and things had returned to blissful normality, which was just fine with Alex. She couldn't even begin to imagine how awkward it would be for her and Optimus to be mad at each other while having to spend the entire day together. "Alexandra?" Alex shook her head and returned her attention to Optimus' question.

"Um. Thataway," she said, waving vaguely out the windshield.

"Obviously," Optimus replied with amusement.

"I'll figure out a destination later," Alex said with a shrug. "Right now I'm just enjoying being out of that dam."

"You disliked it that much?"

"Well, it wasn't bad - except for the containment room, that smelled weird - but it was boring. No distractions. And it was...underground. I'm used to seeing the sky, the landscape, every day - and having it change every day. It was driving me batty seeing nothing but the same concrete walls, the same fluorescent lights, and the same damn people every day. Not that I don't like Emily, but spending that much time around one person can be...wearing," Alex said, figuring out another part of her stay at the dam that had bothered her as she spoke.

"You don't seem to have that problem around me, or your sister," Optimus said.

"Beth’s family, and you’re...you," Alex explained vaguely.

"So good to know I’m...myself?" Optimus’s confusion was clear, and Alex chuckled.

"That’s my way of saying I don’t mind spending extraordinary amounts of time around you. You don't talk all the time, or feel the need to make polite conversation - and, most importantly, you're not poking me with needles and then sticking me in machines and taking readings."

"So really you’re just glad I’m not a medic," Optimus said with humour, making Alex laugh again.

"Well, there is that," Alex said. "But really, it was just...imagine spending two weeks in an enclosed space with only Ratchet, who was constantly fixing you or performing diagnostics or whatnot." Alex smiled as she felt the truck shudder under her, and she knew her point had been made. "Plus I was completely without access to music down there. Emily didn’t want me touching electronics." Alex made a face, and Optimus chuckled.

"Well, here then," he said, flipping the radio on, and Alex laughed as Elvis’s "Tutti Frutti" started playing.

It was hours later, and Alex still hadn't decided where they were going - except through Arizona Desert - when the radio shut off, and Optimus took over, shifting down and slowing his pace.

"Optimus?" she asked uncertainly.

 _"Quiet."_ The mental voice disconcerted Alex for a moment, but she complied. Optimus had now slowed to only twenty miles an hour, and continued at that pace, seeming cautious. After about five minutes of that, Alex was ready to try and contact him through the private network, but he suddenly stopped, his driver’s-side door swinging open. Alex only paused to grab her bag from the back - it had water in it, which she'd need if she was going to be out in the desert for any length of time - before getting out. Optimus didn't change as soon as she stepped out, and she risked the mental contact.

 _"What's going on?"_ she asked tentatively, unsure if she'd succeeded in contacting only Optimus, even though something told her she had.

 _"Walk down the highway,"_ was Optimus' reply. Alex gave him a confused look, but complied - and no sooner had she turned her back on Optimus than something erupted from the sand. She whirled, startled, in time to see Optimus in the middle of transforming as the thing hit him. Then literally out of nowhere, a familiar F-22 appeared, already strafing the area where Optimus was, seeming unworried about hitting the scorpion-like thing that had come out of the sand.

"RUN!" Optimus yelled to Alex, and right on the heels of that command, she heard him call to the other Autobots for assistance.

Despite Optimus telling her to run, Alex remained frozen in place until she saw Optimus toss the scorpion-thing several hundred yards, then start firing at the jet. At that point she decided it was probably safer to get some distance. She got no further than a step away, though - when she turned around, her eyes drifted up to the sky, and she spotted a formation of five more F-22s headed in their direction, all but two in definitely non-military colours.

"Optimus!" she yelled, turning around again and pointing. Optimus looked over from firing at what could only be Skywarp, and his face developed a hard look. He turned his attention back to the Decepticon, only for him to disappear - and reappear above the other jets, falling into formation. Faintly, Alex realized now would be a good time not to be here - the Decepticons were set up for a strafing run that would likely set the ground on fire. So she started doing what Optimus had told her to do at the beginning - running.

Alex stopped again when the jets screamed over her head, turning with them to watch as they let loose the predicted missiles. Optimus staggered under the barrage, but remained standing, sending off a few shots, hitting one of the normal coloured jets on the wing. It spun, but regained control, turning with the rest of the formation to come at Optimus again.

 _"RATCHET! WHEELJACK!"_ Alex screamed over the Autobot's communications network. _"ANYBODY! This is not looking good!"_

 _"Alexandra, stay away from the battle!"_ Ratchet replied. _"Wheeljack and I are on our way, and so are the others. We don't need you to have another Decepticon fall on you!"_

 _"Yeah well hurry your asses up - another five jets have shown up!"_ Alex snapped back, even as she turned and started running again.

 _"What?"_ Ironhide put in. " _Where did they come from?"_

 _"A vaguely eastwards direction,"_ Alex replied sarcastically. Ironhide snapped something back, but Alex didn't hear, as a roar behind her caught her attention. She turned just in time to see Optimus being lifted off the ground, transformed Decepticons swarming on him. Where Optimus had been standing, the scorpion thing could just be seen disappearing back into the sand - it had knocked the Autobot off balance so the jets could get him.

"Oh no," Alex said softly, watching as the jets, with their combined strength, lifted Optimus higher into the air. Without any leverage, and with the Decepticons holding him spread-eagled and staying well clear of the end of his arms, Optimus couldn't fight back and couldn't move. Alex could only watch in horror as Skywarp broke off, doing a tight u-turn in the air before heading straight at Optimus - and began firing.

All the Autobots saw what happened next - Alex somehow managed to transmit what she was seeing across the network, and as she did so, eight vehicles across the country slid to a stop, most of them skidding off the road and not even noticing. The minds that controlled the vehicles were too busy watching what was happening in the Arizona Desert - watching their leader blasted away, then ripped apart piece by piece, his parts scattered across a hundred mile area. Watched as the Decepticons flew away, laughing, after buzzing the stunned human standing on the side of the road.

Then, as one, those eight vehicles roared their fury to the skies, got themselves back onto the roads, and sped towards Arizona, mindless of everything and everyone else around them.

\---

Ratchet and Wheeljack arrived on the scene first. Wheeljack scoured the ground underneath them, hoping to catch Scorpinok scurrying away so he could blast something into oblivion. Ratchet left the scientist to it, going to Alexandra. He found her on her knees on the highway, eyes still glued to the spot where she'd watched Optimus get torn apart.

Ratchet stepped in front of her in an attempt to break her gaze, but she continued staring in the same direction. Kneeling, he gave her shoulder a light push with one finger, recognizing that she was in shock and needed to be brought back to reality. The push caught her attention, and she looked up into his optics for a moment, before her eyes flared blue and rolled back into her head as she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Is she alright?" Wheeljack asked gruffly over Ratchet's shoulder.

"Physically, yes," Ratchet said after a quick scan, then glanced around, knowing that Alexandra would need cover or suffer sun burns before the humans from the dam facility arrived. Seeing what had been one of Optimus' side panels, Ratchet thought that it was somehow appropriate, and wedged it into the asphalt at an angle so Alexandra was laying in its shade. That problem solved, he turned to see what Wheeljack was doing, and smiled sadly when he saw. A small pile of Optimus' parts was already resting beside the cracked and broken highway where the Prime had last stood, and was growing steadily as the scientist searched the desert. Ratchet joined him without a word.

The humans from the dam arrived no more than two hours after the two Autobots. They hadn't been told what had happened, only being given orders to move out when all the Autobots across the country simultaneously took off. They only had to take one look at the growing pile, and the sheet of metal protecting Alexandra from the sun, to figure it out themselves, though. They sent out a few radio calls, loaded Alexandra into a vehicle and took her away, but otherwise they stood back, waiting and watching. Ratchet calmly added Alexandra's sun shield to the pile of Optimus' parts.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were the next to arrive, followed closely by Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, then several hours later, Bluestreak. Ironhide was the last to arrive, less than twelve hours after the Autobots had received Alexandra's transmission of Optimus' death. It was shortly after Ironhide arrived that they finally finished gathering the last of Optimus' parts. The Autobots were silent for a long time after finishing, standing in a loose circle around what was left of their leader, staring at it in as much shock as Alexandra had stared at the sky earlier. Finally, Ironhide stirred and spoke.

"What now?" he asked, speaking in their native Cybertronian.

"We tear them apart," Sunstreaker replied calmly in the same language.

"We have to find them first," Sideswipe pointed out tiredly.

"I have no qualms with spending the next hundred vorns tracking down each and every one of them and tearing them apart just as they did to him." Ironhide's voice was rough, determined. The others added their agreements, save for Ratchet.

"You will all abandon your human companions?" he asked quietly, and everyone looked at him. He scrubbed a hand across his face, a human gesture he’d picked up, before looking at the pile of parts with a weary expression unlike anything any of them had every seen on the medic before. "To give in to nothing but vengeance, to seek only to do violence against the Decepticons...it is very similar to the goals of the Decepticons. Optimus said once that it was our interest in the worlds around us, our curiosity about their inhabitants, and the way we sought out their company, that made us different from the Decepticons, who seek only to destroy."

"And now he's dead," Sunstreaker said, glaring down at the pile of parts, but before Ratchet could berate him, the Autobot sighed and shook his head and grunted. "No, you’re right. We can’t become like them just to avenge him." Unspoken was how Optimus had always had faith in the golden warrior, even when other Autobots thought Sunstreaker was no better than a Decepticon. To avenge Optimus only to become the Decepticon the others accused him of being was no revenge.

"So what do we do?" Bumblebee asked.

"We hunt down the Decepticons - with the help of the humans. And we stay in groups from now on. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper are fine together, as are Wheeljack and I, but the rest of you are spread out," Ratchet replied, taking charge as the most senior officer.

"Sunny and I will have no problem staying together," Sideswipe said, exchanging a glance with his twin.

"I was just wandering, anyways," Bluestreak said, uncharacteristically short-winded, as he nodded towards Ironhide. Ironhide grunted, clearly not looking forward to spending time with the normally talkative Autobot, but he could see the sense in Ratchet's words.

"Good," Ratchet said, and then turned in the direction of the dam facility. "We'd best see about getting Optimus' remains moved."

"I'll take them," Ironhide volunteered.

"Wheeljack and I will make...a place for them," Ratchet said. "Back at the dam, with Jazz's remains."

"Speaking of the dam - how's Alexandra?" Cliffjumper asked softly.

"In shock," Ratchet said dryly. "Though the humans might have managed to pull her out of it by now."

"I'd better check - Beth will want to know," Cliffjumper said, and Ratchet nodded.

"I'll come too," Bumblebee said. "Better get used to sticking together." Cliffjumper let out a sour laugh, then with no further conversation the four Autobots heading back to the dam transformed and headed off. Behind them, Ironhide transformed, as well, and Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Bluestreak began loading Optimus' remains into his truck bed.

\---

The first thing Alex was aware of was a needle piercing her skin, and concerned voices over her head. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw hooded figures looming over her, the tone of their voices immediately changing as they saw her eyes open. They were trying to talk to her, she knew, but she couldn't make sense of what they were saying.

Panic rose inside of her as she listened to them yammer away incomprehensibly - then the panic formed into an irresistible urge to _run_. Jerking away from the needle in her arm and pushing against the nearest figure, sending them staggering backwards, Alex scrambled off the bed she was lying on. She took a quick survey of her surroundings, barely registering that she was in the containment room again, before sprinting for the door.

The people in the room called after Alex as she slipped into the corridor beyond the room and began running. Large, magnetically sealed doors began closing around her as lights flashed and an alarm sounded, but Alex slipped past the doors and ignored the rest. She wasn't aware she had a destination in mind until she saw an elevator, and knew she had to get in it. She headed for it, but bullets shattered the floor in front of her, and she was forced to change directions - only to be met with the butt of a rifle to the head. She went down, her vision swimming, but still conscious.

When her vision cleared, Alex looked up to see soldiers surrounding her, guns at the ready and aimed at her. She frowned, wondering idly why they were standing so far away, and seemed so nervous. Then a white-clad figure - Emily, a part of her mind whispered - pushed her way through the guns and began speaking. Alex watched her for a moment, then frowned - like the people before, Emily wasn't making sense. Since she wasn't going anywhere, Alex actually tried to understand this time, though - so why wasn't Emily speaking sense? The doctor paused in whatever she was saying, and Alex took the opportunity to ask her why she wasn't speaking sense.

The result was curious: Emily stiffened, then backed away, grabbing a radio from one of the soldiers and speaking quickly into it. She gently pushed down the guns of the nearest soldiers and held out a hand to Alex - but as soon as the guns were down, Alex barreled her way through the soldiers and began running again. Even Emily not making sense wasn't enough to make the urge to _run_ disappear. Alex found stairs, and bolted up them, sending several soldiers tumbling down them when they tried to stop her. Up and up Alex ran, ignoring the burning in her legs and lungs, her focus on _running_ \- running higher.

Then abruptly, she was at the top, bursting out into the dawn. More soldiers waited for her, guns pointed again, but this time one of the soldiers tossed a radio to Alex. She frowned first at the radio, then at the soldier, and was just about to toss the device away when a voice came from it.

This voice she could understand - it was telling her to calm down, to stop running. Alex considered doing as it asked for a fraction of a second, but the urge to _run_ surged within her as the voice continued to speak, and she dropped the radio. She charged the soldiers, uncaring of their guns, and they scattered before her instead of shooting. Alex ran to the road, turned right, and kept going until she saw headlights approaching - but no, they weren't the right ones. She kept running.

More headlights - four sets. _These_ were the right ones. Alex stepped out into the middle of the road, and the first vehicle screeched to a halt only inches in front of her. The others stopped, and they all began to change, until four tall figures looked down at Alex. She looked back - and felt her eyes bore into the one that had stopped in front of her. She pinned it with her gaze, and could feel something go from her to it, something powerful, something strong.

Then she sat down, hard.

It was some time before the strange mechanical screeching sounds of the Cybertronian language reached her, and she looked up to see Cliffjumper watching her intently. He was apparently talking to her, since his attention was on her, but why was he speaking Cybertronian?

"Wha-huh!" Alex's attempted question ended in a hacking cough as her throat burned, causing her eyes to water. A bottle of water appeared off to her side, and she looked up to see Emily. Gratefully, she took the water and gulped it down, then tried to speak again, only to end up hacking once more.

"Easy," Emily said soothingly from beside her, a hand rubbing her back. Cliffjumper said something more in Cybertronian, and instead of trying to speak again, Alex gave him a weird look.

"Oh, are you speaking English again, then?" Cliffjumper asked, and Alex blinked at him.

"You were speaking in Cybertronian back at the base," Emily supplied. "I didn't even know the human vocal chords could make some of the sounds you were, so I'm not surprised you can't talk right now." Alex considered that, decided it made sense according to her blurry memories, and nodded. She frowned, though, as something else about those memories nagged at her. She tried to stand, but her legs screamed in protest.

"Over 30 flights of stairs," Emily supplied as she gently pushed Alex back down. Alex sulked then, feeling distinctly disadvantaged, and Emily laughed slightly. "I assume you wanted to see Bumblebee, though?" Alex abruptly sobered and nodded - that was what was nagging at her.

Cliffjumper moved out of the way, and Alex saw Bumblebee sitting on the edge of the road, Ratchet poking at him with tools and lasers. Wheeljack stood nearby, asking Bumblebee questions, which the seated 'bot answered with a voice that was deeper than Alex remembered. Come to think of it, Bumblebee seemed bigger than before...then all at once, Alex began noticing other differences in the scout. A part here, a design there, the way his arm was constructed - given a longer look, Bumblebee barely looked like himself anymore. He had the same general form, enough to look similar, but the rest...the rest was different. He was even a different color - instead of the bright yellow with black stripes, Bumblebee was a burnished red-gold in color. Alex looked up at Cliffjumper in confusion, silently asking for an explanation.

"It's something we'd forgotten about in the wake of Optimus' death," Cliffjumper said gruffly. "Well, Ratchet remembered, but he thought it had been destroyed or Starscream had stolen it. Turns out you absorbed it, though." Alex shot him an annoyed look, telling him to get to the point. "The Matrix of Leadership. You had it inside you, but either it or you knew that you couldn't contain it without dying - the radiation from it was dangerous to both yourself and those around you - so you found the nearest Autobot to give it to. Bumblebee just happened to be that Autobot." Alex blinked, still not comprehending - the term made sense by itself, but she had no idea what it meant in context. "Ratchet can better explain later."

"For now, we'd best get you back to the dam - Cliffjumper, do you think Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Bumblebee would be able to move to inside the dam? We've blocked off civilian traffic for now, but..." Emily trailed off, and Cliffjumper went to inform Ratchet and Bumblebee. Emily and one of her nurses helped Alex up - more like lifted her entirely, it hurt so much to put weight on her legs - and took her to a nearby SUV.

As she settled into the SUV, Alex heard the sounds of Cybertronians transforming behind her, followed by exclamations of surprise from the soldiers around them. Curious, she looked back - and blinked. As expected there was Ratchet's Search and Rescue Hummer, Wheeljack's Mustang, and Cliffjumper's Porsche, but as for Bumblebee...Alex didn't even know what type of vehicle he was. Pick-up truck on steroids was too bland a description - it was ridiculously huge, almost rivaling Optimus' Peterbilt alt.

"What the hell is that?" one of the nearby soldiers asked incredulously, echoing Alex's thoughts.

"That would be a Navistar International CXT," another replied dazedly. "One of the most ridiculous trucks ever made." Bumblebee revved his engine in obvious annoyance, and the soldier shook his head. "Sorry, but it's the truth - unless you're Cybertronian, that truck's only use is to look ridiculously big." Disturbing, cackling laughter issued from Bumblebee's radio. Ratchet gave the now not-so-small Autobot a nudge with his bumper, and the laughter stopped. The sudden silence seemed to spur everyone else into action, as soldiers quickly piled into vehicles, most trying to look like they weren't still trying to stare over their shoulders at Bumblebee’s new alt. Fortunately, the drivers managed to tear their gazes away, and they were soon on their way back to the dam.

When they arrived at the base, a wheelchair was brought up for Alex, and as she was being helped into it, something amusing occurred to her. She looked over at Bumblebee for a moment, and then decided to see if she could still tap into the Autobot communications network.

 _"Sam is going to shit himself when he sees you,"_ she said in Bumblebee’s direction, and the cackling laughter was heard once more.

\---

"I thought they said Bumblebee was going to pick us up?" Mikaela asked softly as she came up beside Sam. They were standing outside the airport, having flown in once they were informed of Optimus' death. Sam shrugged helplessly, still in shock from the news, and continued to look for the yellow and black Camaro. It was nowhere to be seen, though - there wasn't a Camaro within sight, let alone a vehicle with the same paint job.

"Maybe they got the wrong time?" Sam said after a moment, sighing. He started as a ridiculously huge truck parked at the curb, no more than five feet away from Sam and Mikaela, revved its engine loudly. He sent a glare to the driver...who wasn't there. Sam blinked. And blinked again. Then his eyes slid over of their own accord to the small disco ball hanging from the rear view mirror in the truck, and to the decorative cut-out with a bee design and 'Bee-otch' written underneath. "No way," he said weakly.

"What, Sam?" Mikaela asked, and then followed his gaze to the truck. "A CXT? Someone has compensation issues." The truck blared its horn, causing Mikaela to jump, and she stared at it in surprise. If Sam had been able to tear his gaze away from the truck, he would've been able to see the same gears turning in Mikaela's mind as she saw the same things he had. Only once the expression of incredulous understanding came to her face did the passenger door of the truck open, and from within, just loud enough to reach Sam and Mikaela, a familiar sound clip was heard: _'Anymore questions you wanna ask?'_

"Oh god. I don't even know how to drive a truck!" Sam said with a groan.


	11. Ghosts and the Allspark

Three days after Optimus' death, Alex stood somberly on a platform in a large room, surrounded by just about every other human that had dealings with the Autobots. The Secretary of Defense was a few feet to her left, and the President beyond him, along with every member of Will and Bobby's team. The platform they stood on was a good eighteen feet above the actual floor of the room, bringing them about level with the shoulders of most of the Autobots.

The Autobots themselves, save for Ironhide and Bumblebee, stood around the room like sentries guarding the two concrete slabs that were the only features of the room besides the platform and lights. On one concrete slab, only barely visible through a semi-transparent cover, were the humanoid remains of a smaller silver Autobot. On the other slab was an ever growing pile of parts, mostly dull steel and black in color, but a few large pieces showing the bright red and blue colors of the Autobot they'd come from. Another semi-transparent cover rested beside that slab, waiting for Ironhide to bring the last of the parts.

As Alex watched, the weapons specialist rolled into the room, followed by the transformed Bumblebee, who took up station by the door while Cliffjumper transferred Ironhide's cargo to the concrete slab. When his truck bed was empty, Ironhide transformed, and he and Cliffjumper stepped back to make room for Ratchet and Wheeljack, who lifted the cover and secured it to the slab of concrete before returning to their own places. All the Autobots' heads bowed, their optics dimming, and the humans knew it was time for them to leave the room and its grieving occupants. They filed out silently. Alex, the last to leave, shut the door to the platform with a quiet click.

People milled around in the corridor outside for a bit. The President and Secretary of Defense had to go almost immediately, though the President did stop to speak to Alex. She couldn't reply, since her vocal chords were still a mess, but she could nod. Afterwards, she had no idea what he'd said to her, had only a vague impression that he'd talked to her.

Alex had been calm, seeming unaffected by Optimus death, right up until today, but it seemed the funeral had finally made her realize that everything was not alright. Alex moved now liked she was in a dream - she had a curious state of detachment from everything. When she lifted her arms to hug her sister, it felt like she hadn't told the limbs to move, and the sensation of skin on cloth was dulled, fuzzy almost, like a memory.

Alex walked through the dream-like haze as the people closest to the Autobots, the ones that lived with them and drove them to the store and around their home cities or towns like normal vehicles, gathered in a small meeting room not far from the memorial room where they'd left the Autobots, living and dead. She was aware of the conversations going on around her, but couldn't bring herself to pay attention to any of them, instead grabbing a chair and dragging it into a corner of the room to sit on. She couldn't talk anyways, so she was left alone, with only the occasional worried person coming over to make sure she was alright. She smiled at them, and nodded towards her legs. They should have hurt after standing for that long, Alex knew - she was still recovering from her rapid stair climb when she'd had the Matrix inside of her - and people accepted the excuse without question, but Alex felt only a vaguely itchy feeling from them.

Sitting alone in the corner, lost in thought, it didn't surprise Alex that she fell asleep, she was just surprised that she didn't notice it happen. She only noticed it when she realized the blackness around her was being stripped away by the swift-moving lines to reveal the silver desert of the Autobot VCE. Feeling almost more awake now than when she actually was, Alex stepped forward, waiting for Autobots to appear - but none did.

Not right away, at least.

Alex had made her way to the lone rock in the landscape, which she'd seen Ironhide sitting on that one night, when something in her peripheral vision caught her attention and she whirled. She gaped, her head tilting back as she looked up, hardly able to comprehend what she was seeing. Then reality came crashing down on her, so to speak, and she staggered back in the virtual landscape.

 _"You - you're dead!"_ she stammered to the Autobot before her. With agonizing slowness, Optimus' head turned towards her. Cybertronian words flowed around her, and she shook her head mutely. There was more movement, behind Optimus, and her eyes flickered away from the dead Autobot to find another one fading in - she wouldn't have recognized him, save for the fact that she'd just seen his body. _"Jazz..."_ The silver Autobot turned his head towards her with the same agonizing slowness as Optimus.

Cybertronian floated through the air again, and Alex couldn't tell for the life of her if it was Optimus or Jazz that had spoken. She shook her head again, and then her eyes widened as, behind Optimus and Jazz, an entire army of Autobots appeared. Someone, or maybe all of them, spoke in Cybertronian, and the mechanical language filled the landscape, growing louder, ever louder, until Alex could feel it in her bones. Suddenly, it changed in pitch, and Alex clapped her hands over her ears as the piercing sound dug into her skull. The sound grew even sharper, even louder. Alex felt herself scream, then the landscape and dead Autobots disappeared in a burst of white light.

When her vision cleared, Alex found herself walking down a corridor in the dam, headed for the memorial room holding Optimus and Jazz's remains.

She tried to stop - and couldn't.

\---

Beth was worried about her sister - Alex had seemed normal, almost cheerful, when she'd greeted Beth at the airport. She'd even made a joke about Beth missing Cliffjumper for less than pure reasons. It was - well, it wasn't like how Alex had dealt with their dad's death. She'd gotten angry when their father had died, and then one day had just broken down, and Beth had helped pick up the pieces. But now - Alex didn't even seem to be grieving.

Beth had some hope after the funeral, when Alex seemed a bit...detached, like it was finally hitting her that Optimus was dead, and she was withdrawing to deal. Even though it hurt that her sister wouldn't come to her, Beth was happy that Alex was finally dealing, at least. Then it had disappeared. Beth had been tense, watching her sister in the corner of the meeting room, looking for any sign of the collapse she thought would follow the numbness - but it hadn't come. Instead, Alex had suddenly stood, her eyes snapping open, and surveyed the room coolly before stalking out.

Beth had stayed still out of shock at first, but now she was out in the hallway trying to find her sister. She heard a commotion farther down the hall, out of sight, and went to investigate. She paused as she rounded the corner, coming into one of the rooms large enough to accommodate Autobots, and it took her a moment to find and focus on the commotion. Two army privates were holding her sister back by her arms as she steadfastly tried to get past them to the human-sized floor-level door to the Autobots' memorial room. Alex wasn't saying anything, wasn't giving any reason - but then, she couldn't, not with her vocal chords temporarily ruined from having spoken Cybertronian.

Beth stepped forward to see if she could help, slipping around the privates so she could look her sister in the face. Neither of the privates stopped her, either knowing who she was or too busy holding back Alex and calling for backup to deal with her, too. Beth couldn't help but smile a bit at the fact that they needed backup to deal with her sister, and then turned her attention to the woman in question - and gasped.

Alex's eyes were a bright, clear blue, and glowed lightly in the artificial light of the dam.

Beth could only stare in stunned surprise for a long moment, before something twigged in her memory. Something Cliffjumper had told her when he’d contacted her about Alex’s condition a few days ago...a frown crossed Beth’s face as she remembered. Cliffjumper had said that Alex’s eyes changed when she talked over the Autobot’s communication network. And if her eyes were different now, and all the Autobots were inside the room Alex was currently trying to get into, restraining her might not actually be necessary. Though why hadn’t one of the Autobots come to let her in?

"Alex, do the Autobots want you to go in there?" Beth asked. Alex showed no sign of having heard, just as two more privates came jogging down the corridor to help their fellows. Doctor Adair wasn't far behind, evidently having heard who the call was about.

"What's happening?" Adair asked as she reached them, the other two privates already helping restrain and subdue Alex.

"I don't know, Doctor. She just came down here and pushed past us, then tried the door. She got angry when she couldn't get in, and we had to restrain her," one of the privates replied.

"Her eyes are blue," Beth put in.

"What?" Adair frowned, slipping past the privates to get a look at Alex. "Hmm." The doctor waved a hand in front of Alex's eyes, which went completely unacknowledged, save for a blink. "I take it you tried to talk to her?"

"She didn't even seem to hear," Beth confirmed, and one of the privates grunted in agreement.

"Hmmm, like when she had the Matrix inside of her. But she can't have anything else in her - I checked her readings after she handed the Matrix off to Bumblebee, she was normal," Adair said with a frown, then started digging around in her pockets, finally coming up with a portable recorder. "Thank goodness I had the forethought to have Ratchet record this for me after the Matrix thing." Adair pressed the play button on the recorder, and metallic, digital sounds emerged - Cybertronian. Alex visibly slowed in her struggles.

"What's it saying?" Beth asked in an undertone to Adair.

"To calm down, that we mean no harm, and that if she'll just come with us we'll get an Autobot for her. I meant it to be used if we somehow found an Autobot that couldn't communicate, but it works for this," Adair replied quietly.

"If they couldn't communicate, how were you going to know they were an Autobot and not a Decepticon?" Beth asked with a frown.

"A Decepticon would just start shooting things instead of paying attention to the little flesh-creatures," Adair replied wryly, and Beth conceded the point with amusement as the flow of Cybertronian stopped. Alex had stopped completely now, and was standing passively between the two privates, looking calmly at Adair. Motioning with her hand, Adair took a few steps down the corridor. Alex arched an eyebrow and glanced back at the door before following. Beth followed after, along with the two privates that had come as backup.

"When the Autobots emerge, let me know," Adair called back to the privates guarding the door, and one of them nodded before resuming guard duty. Unsurprisingly, Adair led Alex and the rest of them to the infirmary. The two privates following them took up stations outside while the three women went inside. Adair managed to get Alex up on one of the medical bays, though Alex was now frowning, looking suspicious.

"Why don't you try and talk to her again?" Adair suggested to Beth. "I'm going to run a few passive tests." Beth nodded, heading over to the bed.

"Hey Alex. Can you understand me?" she asked. She received a flat look from her sister, and winced, looking away. Her gaze settled on the pad of paper and pen that Alex had been using to communicate, and she scooped them up and handed them to her sister, who took them with a puzzled look. It took several minutes for Beth to get across to her sister was she was supposed to do with the paper and pen, which was odd, but then Alex set to with gusto - and wrote in Cybertronian. Beth sighed as her sister filled four pages with the alien writing before handing it back expectantly.

"Doctor," Beth called, and when Adair looked over she held up the pad of paper. The doctor shook her head.

"I thought as much," she said. "I know they need to grieve, but I hope the Autobots hurry up. They're the only ones in the world - save for Decepticons and, apparently, Alex - who will be able to understand that." As if on cue, Adair's phone rang, and she hurriedly picked it up, her eyes sliding over to Alex as she listened.

"Take that pad down to the Autobots' exit from the memorial room - they finally came out, and one of the privates spoke to them," Adair said once she hung up. "We'll figure out what to do next after they've translated it." Beth nodded and headed out the door, making her way quickly back to the Autobot entrance for the memorial room. All of the Autobots were waiting there, and while they were somber, there was an undercurrent of concern – concern which focussed on Beth when she entered. Cliffjumper came to kneel in front of her almost immediately, and off to the side, the Autobots’ other human allies watched with confusion.

"What's this about Alex?" Cliffjumper asked, and in response, Beth held up the pad of paper. Cliffjumper frowned and carefully took it from her, then stood as he looked intently at the writing on it. "Where did you get this?" he asked after he'd gone through all four pages. Ratchet and Bumblebee had since joined him in his reading.

"Alex just wrote it," Beth replied, and would have continued, but the Autobots began speaking amongst themselves in Cybertronian. Their conversation was brief, but they were clearly concerned. Ratchet ended the discussion with a sharp comment, and then Cliffjumper kneeled again, holding out the pad of paper for Beth to take back.

"Where is Alex now?" he asked once she’d taken the pad.

"In the infirmary - Doctor Adair took her there after she tried to get into the memorial room where you guys where," Beth replied.

"You must bring her back here," Cliffjumper told her somberly.

"Why?" Beth asked worriedly. "What did she write?"

"It's...complicated. For now, you must trust us. Bring Alex here," Cliffjumper said. Beth frowned at him for a moment, but she knew the Autobot well enough to know she wouldn't get any more out of him, so she turned and headed back the way she'd come. Will and Mikaela followed her after a moment, and though it was clear they were curious as to what was going on, they didn’t ask questions.

"The Autobots want us to bring Alex to them," Beth said as she entered the infirmary, expecting Adair to be right there, waiting. She blinked in surprise, however, as she realized the infirmary was in an uproar now, and no one had heard her comment. Spotting Adair nearby, Beth stepped over to the doctor quickly and grabbed her arm, catching her attention. "What's going on?"

"Alex is saturated with Allspark radiation - she's still not radioactive, but the radiation is having negative effects on her body even as it's healing itself afterwards. I don't know how long it will stay that way, though," Adair replied in a rush, then pulled her arm out of Beth's grasp and continued to Alex's bedside. Alex herself could not be seen due to the sheer number of Adair's nurses and fellow doctors that were surrounding the bed. "So you can tell the Autobots to stuff it," the doctor shot over her shoulder. Beth paused.

"Can I -" she was cut short as Adair and several of her medical staff began moving a glaring, restrained Alex to a room off of the infirmary. Beth caught a glimpse of several large machines before the doors to the room swung closed. "- talk to my sister who happens to be the only living relative I have who knows who I am, save for a few stuck-up cousins living in New York?" Beth finished dryly.

"I could..." Will trailed off in his offer, waving vaguely in the direction Adair and her fellows had taken Alex. Beth shook her head.

"No, don't bother," she said. "I think it's time to find out exactly what Alex wrote on that pad of paper."

"I'll stay here," Mikaela offered. "Sam can fill me in later." Beth nodded a curt thanks, then she and Will set off.

"Where is Alex?" Ratchet asked as soon as the two of them returned.

"Apparently dying from Allspark radiation even as it's healing her," Beth snapped in reply. "I'd like to know exactly what's going on with my sister now, thanks." Ratchet sighed and glanced at Cliffjumper, who kneeled next to Beth again.

"Beth, Alex is...well, if what she wrote on the paper is correct, Alex isn't exactly Alex anymore. She claims to be the Allspark, manifesting in a new form - a claim that's backed up by what you just told us," the Porsche Autobot said carefully.

"The Allspark was destroyed," Sam pointed out with a frown, coming over to stand with Beth.

"Apparently not. From what Alex wrote, the Allspark cannot be destroyed - it only changes forms," Cliffjumper replied, shaking his head.

"And apparently it's sentient," Ratchet added with sour amusement. "Because of course, how could something give life and sentience without having such things itself?" Beth got the feeling Ratchet was kicking himself for not having realized this earlier.

"So what's happened to Alex, then?" Beth asked.

"We don't know," Cliffjumper replied with a shake of his head.

"We were going to ask when she was brought down here," Wheeljack supplied helpfully. Beth frowned.

"I'll see what I can do, but Adair seems intent on trying to 'fix' Alex," she said.

"She must not!" Bumblebee spoke up, his tone sharper than even the other Autobots had ever heard it. He stepped forward, and Cliffjumper gave way to him with a deference that their human allies had only ever seen displayed to Optimus before. "The Allspark might be lost again if she does. While it is in Alex, there is at least a chance of finding a way to transfer it to something else."

"I can order her to release Alex to us," Will offered, and Beth nodded.

"Right, let's go," she said, far more comfortable with the Autobots in charge of her sister's care right now than Adair. They at least knew something about what was affecting Alex - from what Beth had seen, and heard, of Adair, she panicked at the word 'radiation'. So Beth headed back to the infirmary with Will right behind her.

Adair resisted having Alex taken out of her care, even going so far as arguing with Will that he couldn't order her about in a medical issue, but it was Mikaela who pointed out softly that as Alex's closest living relative, decisions about her care fell to Beth. And Beth wanted the Autobots to see Alex. Adair finally relented, but followed behind as Beth and Will led Alex through the corridors to the Autobots. The younger Morgan sister remained silent for the trip, no longer trying to speak to Alex now that she knew it would be useless, and spent the trip with her own thoughts, hoping she was making the right choice.

They reached the room where the Autobots waited, but while Beth and Will stopped at the entrance, Adair followed Alex as she kept going to Cliffjumper. Adair opened her mouth, ready to argue with the Autobots about Alex being down here, but she was cut short as Alex placed both her hands on Cliffjumper’s foot, and electricity arched across the Autobot’s frame as he stiffened, surprise clear on his face. Adair instinctively stepped away, but the other Autobots started forward - only to be stopped by Ratchet, who had been running scans from the moment Alex had entered the room.

"Don't - there's too much charge going through him for even our systems to handle!" the medic snapped. "Even my medical insulation couldn't take it."

"What about him, then?" Ironhide demanded, motioning to Cliffjumper. Ratchet didn't have time to reply as Cliffjumper, without moving even the smallest bit, began speaking in Cybertronian, catching the Autobots' attention. They listened raptly, and when he finished, Bumblebee walked over and opened the door to the memorial room without saying a word. Alex drew back from Cliffjumper and made straight for the door, ignoring the resounding crash as Cliffjumper collapsed behind her. Glancing uncertainly between her sister and her friend, Beth hesitated.

"He'll be alright," Ratchet said after making a few more quick scans of Cliffjumper. "His systems just need to reboot."

"What about Alex? What's she doing?" Beth asked, heading for the memorial room once she knew Cliffjumper was alright.

"Rebuilding Optimus - or she will be, shortly," Wheeljack said as the Autobots and other humans followed her into the room. Alex was waiting impatiently for the Autobots, and Bumblebee and Ironhide carefully removed the cover over Optimus' remains before Sideswipe gave Alex a hand up onto the concrete slab.

"What?! That's crazy! How could Alex know how to put Optimus back together?" Adair demanded, sounding distinctly cranky.

"Alex doesn't know," Wheeljack said. "The Allspark does, however." Adair seemed ready to protest, not having heard the earlier explanation about Alex being the Allspark, but Bobby pulled her away and began explaining what they knew. Beth ignored them as questions bubbled up inside of her.

"Ok, so the Allspark rebuilds Optimus. What then? Does she bring him back to life? And what about my sister?" she asked. Wheeljack frowned, and Bumblebee turned and spoke to Alex in Cybertronian, clearly passing along the questions. Alex paused in what she was doing, and then the most unholy set of screeching sounds Beth had ever heard came from her sister's throat. It was Cybertronian, but somehow it sounded almost demonic coming from the throat of a human. Alex ended her speech in a gagging cough, then scowled and returned to what she was doing. The Autobots exchanged uneasy glances.

"What did she say?" Beth asked.

"She said Optimus' spark will be restored once he's rebuilt. But - once an Autobot dies, their spark is returned to Well of Allsparks, and it cannot be retrieved," Wheeljack said slowly.

"The Allspark?" Beth asked, glancing towards Alex.

"No, not the _Allspark_ , the Well of Allsparks. In human terms, it would be something like an afterlife for Cybertronians," Wheeljack explained carefully.

"You said no one can bring a spark back from this Well of Allsparks, though, so what'll happen when she brings Optimus back to life? Will he be a zombie or something?" Beth asked, and she could hear a slight snicker from one of the men behind her, which everyone tactfully ignored.

"No, we can only assume that it will be a new spark in Optimus' body," Wheeljack said, sounding disturbed.

"So it'll be Optimus' body, but not Optimus' mind?" Sam asked, and Wheeljack and Ratchet both nodded.

"Won't you find that weird?" Will asked.

"Perhaps," Bumblebee replied with a shrug. "But we can change our forms easily - all the 'new' Optimus would have to do is scan a new vehicle, and he wouldn't look like Optimus anymore."

"But you'll know," Beth pointed out, thinking privately of what she would have done, would have felt like, if Josh could have been healed and brought back to life, but as a completely new and different person. She didn't think she would have been able to handle it.

"Yes. We will," Bumblebee said with a sigh, and turned to look at Alex, who was still digging through Optimus' parts. "However, I doubt we could change her mind, and as the Allspark pointed out to us, we would not have been able to restrain her for long. Energy such as that...she could easily have melted or short-circuited anything between herself and Optimus' remains. The Allspark is a representation of life, however, and so she chose to wait, to see if she could reach Optimus in a peaceful manner."

"Oh," Beth replied. She remained quiet for a moment, before remembering that her last question hadn't been answered. "So what'll happen to Alex once this is all done with?"

"The Allspark said Alex was still there - whether it meant as part of it, or sleeping, or purely in the physical sense, we can't say," Bumblebee replied as he watched Alex.

"So she could be dead?" Beth asked, forcing all emotion from her voice.

"We don't know," Ratchet replied, turning to look at Beth. "This is beyond even our understanding."


	12. Mechs That Just Won't Stay Down

Word got around the base quickly that the Allspark was rebuilding Optimus through Alex, and people came to gawk as Optimus' parts were arranged in the middle of the floor, the Allspark scurrying between them and the pile on the concrete slab via a ladder than had been provided. Adair tried to take some readings on the Allspark, but was brushed off, and when she tried to force the issue, the Autobots stopped her - the Allspark had apparently assured them when it had spoken through Cliffjumper that Alex's body would come to no harm. Adair didn't quite believe it, especially when someone pointed out that the Allspark wasn't stopping to eat or rest.

The Allspark eventually got irritated enough with Adair that it first chucked a piece of tubing at the doctor's head, and when the doctor continued to bother it, grabbed the nearest Autobot and gave them a message to pass on. Sideswipe had the grace to look embaressed as he passed on the message once he woke up from the shock the Allspark had given him: ‘frag off or I'll start throwing heavier parts at you'.

The crowds of gawkers reduced as time went by and people became used to the fact that Optimus was being rebuilt. It was still a rare sight for the memorial room to be empty during the day - one of the Autobots at least was always there, ready to scrounge up a replacement for some essential part that had been mangled beyond repair, supply a tool, or lift something. During the night, though, the Allspark was left alone to work, the only one moving in the base besides the night guards and the occasional scientist.

Eventually, those that had flown in for Optimus' funeral had to go home, and most of the Autobots went with them. Only Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Wheeljack remained at the dam to watch the continuing reconstruction of Optimus. Sam wasn't too pleased - he'd had a gleeful moment thinking of driving past Trent in Bumblebee's new form - but he realized it would be a little hard to explain this change in his vehicle, plus he’d need an upgrade on his licence, so he had to go home with the tale that his Camaro was in the shop to be fixed. His parents had fortunately stopped asking about anything relating to his car about the time Sector Seven had kidnapped the entire family.

As soon as the Autobots left the dam, the Decepticons showed up again. It was doubtful that they were prepared for the ferocity and ruthlessness both Autobots and humans now displayed towards them, though. The first two to appear - Thundercracker and Skywarp - tried attacking Ironhide, but while they waited until Bluestreak was a good hour away, they hadn't counted on Will Lennox. The army major had 'appropriated' some 105 shells and the appropriate firing mechanism for them, and had stored the whole kaboodle in Ironhide's truck bed. Between the barrage of human missiles and Ironhide's canons, the two jets barely escaped alive - and even then, they cheated, as Will said: Skywarp had to teleport out after Thundercracker shoved him into the line of fire so he himself could escape.

Cliffjumper was next on the Decepticon hit list, and this time a full trine of Seekers showed – Ramjet, Dirge, and Thrust – along with Scorpinok. They'd apparently learned from Ironhide and Will, since they made sure Beth was no where near Cliffjumper when they attacked, but it didn't do them much good. Cliffjumper led them on a merry chase up to the next city, where Sideswipe and Sunstreaker just happened to be visiting, along with Bobby and Jorge.

They met on the highway, the twins passing Cliffjumper on either side as they transformed in time to each grab one side of Scorpinok. In an echo of Megatron's actions with Jazz, the twins ripped the smaller Decepticon in half, then began tearing off pieces of Scorpinok and chucking them at the Decepticon Seekers. The pieces would, more often than not, explode in a hail of shrapnel in the face of whatever jet they were heading for as one of the three Autobots shot it with their canon. In addition to this, Bobby and Jorge managed to call in air support while causing damage with their own stash of 105 shells. In the end, only Ramjet and Dirge escaped, both badly injured. Thrust lay in a smoking ruin after being bombarded by all three Autobots’s canons from different sides.

After that, the Decepticons lay low for awhile. Barricade was spotted by the twins, but he was clearly still injured, and ran instead of engaging them. The ensuing chase went across four and a half states - one of which was Texas - before Barricade finally managed to escape.

With three consecutive defeats and the loss of two of their number, it wasn't all that surprising that the Decepticons took to guerilla tactics, appearing just long enough to take a few shots with their canons or fire a few missiles before retreating. It irritated the Autobots to no end, and the ones not holed up in Hoover Dam with the Allspark took to wandering along the highways on parallel courses, all but painting targets on their backs as they waited for the jets to attack. Ratchet tried to beat it into their CPUs that this was a Bad Idea, and Bumblebee tested his authority as the new Prime by ordering them not to, but both of them were ignored.

During their battles with the Decepticons, none of the Autobots forgot why they were fighting, or about the Allspark's project - their first action after finishing a fight was to head back to the dam, whether or not they were injured, where they'd go straight to the memorial room to see how things were going. Ratchet, exasperated after dragging one Autobot or another from the memorial room and having them leave behind a veritable lake of energon, lubricants, coolants, and various other fluids neccesary for a mechs survival, actually started leaving a few of his tools outside the room so he could start treating injured Autobots as they saw what new part of Optimus had been rebuilt since the last time they were there.

Eventually, the Allspark finished. It took several months, but finally the Allspark welded the last piece in place and stepped back. Bumblebee, the Autobot waiting in the Memorial room at that time, straightened as he watched the Allspark do a visual scan of the lifeless mechanical form in front of it before nodding in satisfaction.

"You're done?" the Autobot asked curiously, and the Allspark looked up at him with a smile, then made a shooing motion. "Alex - Allspark -" Bumblebee struggled with how to ask it not to reanimate Optimus' corpse with a different spark, but it seemed impatient, and put Alex's hand on his foot, sending a shock coursing through him. Bumblebee got the hint and left. The door shut behind him as he called Ratchet and Wheeljack, telling them that the Allspark was done. He turned to the door and saw blue arcs of electricity occasionally escaping at the edges, his sensors telling him that the door, and the room beyond it, was heating up.

"I hope Alex's body will survive this process," Ratchet said with concern once he arrived.

"Beth will rip us all apart piece by piece if it doesn't," Bumblebee said seriously. "And she'll hide the pieces so the Allspark can't put us back together." There were murmurs of agreement from the other Autobots as they settled in to wait for whatever was happening on the other side of the door to finish. It took several hours for the electricity to stop and the door began to cool down, then another hour before it opened. The three Autobots stepped cautiously inside, their optics immediately drawn to the massive form of their rebuilt commander, sitting on the slab where his parts had once rested. He looked up when they entered, smiling.

"Hello old friends." The familiar blue optics slid over to Bumblebee, and he frowned before his optics flicked over to Wheeljack. "Wheeljack, have you been tinkering?" There was no denying that the amused tone was pure Optimus, and silence fell as the three Autobots in the doorway stared in shock.

"What - but..." Wheeljack's spluttering broke the heavy silence, and the scientist finally looked over to Bumblebee helplessly.

"Optimus?" Bumblebee asked in stunned surprise.

"And friends, ‘Bee!" The three Autobots' heads whipped upwards so fast they almost snapped several cables in their necks. Standing on the platform above the main door, where the humans had stood when they'd supposedly laid Optimus' remains to rest...was Jazz. He waved cheerily at them.

"Uh..." Even Bumblebee was at a loss for words this time. From below him, a voice floated up, speaking in Cybertronian, and he looked down just as the Allspark finished talking and lapsed into pained coughing. It had explained to them several weeks ago that while it could speak through Alex's body, it was painful, and the damage caused took a few days to repair, so it prefered not to do so. Now it apparently determined that talking was worth it to tell the Autobots that it was a part of the Well itself and therefor able to access the sparks intside.

"Unexpected," Wheeljack murmured.

"Why is Alexandra speaking Cybertronian?" Optimus asked with a frown, apparently deeming _how_ her words were said to be more important than _what_ her words were.

"She's not," Ratchet replied with a sigh, and Optimus gave the medic a curious look, silently asking for an explanation. "The Allspark wasn't destroyed when Sam used it to destroy Megatron - it simply became disembodied. It wandered around the world for awhile until it found Alex, and at your funeral it...well, it possessed her, then rebuilt you."

"And Jazz. In secret," Bumblebee said with amusement. "Which I believe is proof that Alex is still in there somewhere." Optimus gave the golden Autobot a sharp look.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The Allspark wasn't exactly clear when we asked it if Alex was still alive. It said she was there, but hasn't elaborated, no matter how many times we ask," Bumblebee replied with a sigh. By his foot, the Allspark had finally recovered from its coughing fit and looked up at Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Bumblebee. After a moment, it seemed to make a decision and headed over to Ratchet, placing Alex's hands on the medic's foot. Electricity arched across the Autobot's form, but he didn't stiffen as Cliffjumper did.

"What's she doing?" Wheeljack asked Ratchet curiously.

"Uh -" Ratchet seemed unable to say anymore.

"She's fixing him," Jazz supplied from his perch, and at the curious looks of the other Autobots, he motioned in Ratchet's direction. "I can see a few dents he's had for...well, ever, disappearing." Even as Jazz finished saying that, the Allspark withdrew from Ratchet and went to Wheeljack, who stiffened in a similar manner.

"That was...a unique experience," Ratchet said once he was freed from the Allspark. "I believe half my subroutines have been re-written." The other Autobots exchanged glances. "Oh, don't worry, it's nothing drastic, she just seems to have cleaned up the code a bit." Jazz shook his head.

"That's weird," he said. At the other Autobots' feet, the Allspark apparently finished with Wheeljack and drew away, then ambled over to Bumblebee. The Autobot stiffened in anticipation, but the Allspark only frowned up at him for a moment before heading off.

"I guess you don't rate," Jazz said with amusement.

"It's probably because he hasn't taken any damage since he got his new form," Ratchet mused.

"Yeah, speaking of that new form..." Jazz trailed off expectantly.

"The Matrix," Optimus explained for the golden bot, who nodded. "I had thought it was destroyed, as well. Even if it hadn’t, I would not have expected you to take it on, Bumblebee."

"Ah, Alex is at fault for that, as well," Ratchet said with a sigh. "The casing of the Matrix was destroyed, so far as we can tell. The energy that actually forms the Matrix, however, went into Alex. But for whatever reason, the Matrix did not sit well with her - it was killing her - so she found the nearest Autobot to give it to, which just happened to be Bumblebee."

"We haven't figured out how to get it out yet, otherwise I'd give it back," Bumblebee supplied with an awkward shrug. Optimus tilted his head slightly to one side, then locked optics with the golden Autobot. Light seemed to connect the two pairs of optics, and then as the other Autobots watched, Bumblebee began to fold into himself, taking on his old form again. Once Bumblebee looked like his old self again, the connection between him and Optimus was broken, and the two Autobots staggered back.

"That is how you get it out," Optimus said with a small smile.

"And what exactly was 'that'?" Ratchet asked with a frown. Optimus smiled wryly.

"To be honest, I’m not entirely sure," he replied.

"Right," Ratchet said dryly. The Autobots’ attention was drawn to the door as Adair hurried into the room. Glancing up and spotting Optimus, she froze.

"Oh, she's finished. That explains why she's wandering about," the doctor said after a moment.

"Wandering, doctor?" Optimus asked curiously. Adair paused, frowning up at Optimus, then looked uncertainly up at Ratchet and Wheeljack, at which point she spotted Jazz, who waved cheerfully.

"The Allspark was able to restore both of them completely, sparks included," Ratchet told the doctor gently.

"So you're really -" Adair trailed off as she looked over at Optimus, and he nodded. She frowned, then looked back up. This time, her gaze caught on Bumblebee. "And now you're normal again! What has Alex been doing down here?!" Adair said with annoyance.

"Alex has been doing nothing," Wheeljack pointed out, and the doctor rolled her eyes.

"You know what I meant," she said. "Whoever it is that just walked past me in the hallway a few minutes ago."

"Yes, you said she was wandering?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"Maybe not wandering - she was too focused for that. She looked like she had a destination in mind, and didn't even threaten to throw something at me when I tried to talk to her," Adair replied. "Do any of you know where she might be going?" The Autobots exchanged glances, frowning.

"Maybe..." Ratchet considered, glancing over at Wheeljack.

"The closest Autobot is several hundred miles away," the scientist pointed out.

"And she doesn't have to eat or rest," Ratchet replied. Wheeljack cycled his optics.

"Point," he conceeded, then looked down to Adair. "The Allspark is likely going in search of the next closest Autobot in order to fix them."

"Fix them? I thought Ratchet..." Adair trailed off in confusion.

"I fix everything that is necessary, but residue, small dents, or the like I leave to the individual Autobot and their self repair systems to fix. I also don't touch CPU programming. The Allspark just fixed all the minor little problems with Wheeljack and I, as well as cleaning up some of our code."

"Oh," Adair said after a pause. "So are you just going to let her walk to the next Autobot, then?"

"No," Optimus answered for the other Autobots. "I shall give her a ride. The rest of you can fill me - and Jazz - in through the communications network as I go."

"Perhaps you should take someone with you, in case the Decepticons decide to attack again?" Ratchet suggested.

"I'll go," Bumblebee offered immediately, and Optimus nodded, then jerked back suddenly as Jazz swung down from his perch, landing between Optimus and the other Autobots.

"Me too," Jazz said with a grin. Optimus arched an eyebrow and looked at Ratchet, who grunted.

"You were both dead. If I'm going to let one of you go, I may as well let both of you," the medic said, then turned and left the room, muttering under his breath about mechs returning from the dead and making his job obsolete as he went.

"Right then. Let's get going, shall we?" Jazz suggested, and Optimus nodded. Wheeljack and Adair stepped aside to let the other three ‘Bots past, then followed them out to the main exit from the dam. Jazz was looking around and taking in his surroundings the entire time, while Bumblebee began explaining to the other ‘Bot in low tones, then over the communications network as they left the dam and headed up to the road. They reached the top just as the Allspark emerged, and Optimus took a moment to have a good look at her.

She looked like the same Alexandra he was used to, albeit in army fatigues and with glowing blue eyes. Her steps were brisk, and it was clear from the look on her face that she had a destination in mind that she would not stray from - but when Optimus transformed and drove up beside her, the Allspark detoured into his cab without a pause. Then Optimus was subjected to the curious sensation of having the Allspark literally take over his systems that were needed for driving and opperate them herself. Jazz and Bumblebee - still talking privately - transformed and fell in behind him.

Optimus remained silent, letting the Allspark drive, as Ratchet filled him in on what had happened since he'd died. Once Ratchet was finished, Optimus promptly contacted the rest of the Autobots and repeated Bumblebee’s previous order that they stop making targets of themselves. Naturally, this resulted in shocked silence as the rest of the Autobots tried to figure out what the heck was going on, and after Ratchet withdrew from the conversation with an irritable sigh, Wheeljack was left to explain that Optimus, the real Optimus, was back. 

Wheeljack also neglected to mention Jazz, so there was another confused moment a half hour later when the silver ‘Bot decided to say hello. Optimus was out of Nevada before the Autobots' comm chatter died down to banter between the twins and Jazz, and he felt safe in tuning it out in favour of trying to speak to the Allspark. He found himself uncertain where to begin, however.

"Thank you," he settled on, and was surprised to get an amused snort, so like Alexandra that for a moment he wondered if the Allspark was gone, leaving only his friend again. But no, Alex's eyes were still blue, and the Allspark was still controlling part of his systems, driving him. There was a pause. "I understand that you can only communicate vocally or through an Autobot. Are you unable to access Alexandra's ability to speak through our communications network?" Honest surprise from the Allspark on Alexandra's face, then a frown.

 _"I was unaware this ability existed,"_ the voice spoke Cybertronian, had no gender, and echoed almost painfully through him. It didn't come from Alexandra's mouth however, and it didn't leave Optimus with an overloaded system needing to reboot.

 _"It is a new ability, even to Alexandra,"_ Optimus replied carefully - he wasn't quite sure who to tell his communications protocols to contact, the Allspark or Alexandra, but the vague 'that person there' (as Jazz called them) first contact protocols, used when speaking to a mech one didn't know the name of, seemed to work. _"We believe it came about when she was exposed to a spark."_

 _"Indeed. It is that very event that made my existance in this form possible,"_ the Allspark replied, sounding thoughtful. _"It is intriguing that other side effects exist besides allowing this body to channel myself and the Matrix."_

 _"Regarding the body you now inhabit..."_ Optimus said _. "My fellow Autobots have raised some questions about it's true owner, and I would very much like to know the answers myself."_

 _"The one you call Alexandra is here, unharmed,"_ the Allspark said dismissively.

 _"Is it possible to speak with her?"_ Optimus asked.

 _"Unfortunately, no,"_ the Allspark replied without elaboration. _"We approach our first destination."_ It was the obvious end of the conversation, and Optimus gave a mental sigh before turning his attention to their location.

What he found was alarming - the nearest Autobots were those left back at the dam, and the closest Cybertronian signal was on Decepticon frequencies. Optimus tried to speak to the Allspark, to warn it, but it didn't listen, instead bringing him to a halt and climbing down out of the cab. Optimus transformed along with Jazz and Bumblebee behind him, and the three Autobots watched worriedly as the Allspark headed for the side of the road, where she began pushing through the brush along the edges. They weren't in a forest - it was still much too arid for that - but the bushes were growing high on either side, high enough to hide any of the Decepticons known to be on Earth currently.

"Is it just me, or is th'only signal -" Jazz’s quiet comment was stopped as the Allspark pulled back a piece of brush to reveal the black side-panel of a car with white lettering.

Barricade’s engine roared to life almost immediately upon his side being revealed, but before he could move, the Allspark brought both hands down on his hood, and energy crackled over him. The brush covering the rest of the Decepticon smoldered, then caught fire, and Jazz and Bumblebee stepped forward to brush the burning foliage aside and stamp out the flames so they didn't spread or harm Alex. They'd only just finished when the Allspark drew back, and Barricade transformed.

The Decepticon stared down at Alex for a moment, then his optics slid up to see two supposedly dead Autobots and another that had nearly killed him twice. Optimus had always thought Barricade was one of the smarter Decepticons, so he wasn't really surprised when the enforcer whirled and started running, transforming as he went. Unfortunately, as much as Optimus didn't like unnecesary fights, the last thing they needed was for Barricade to tell the other Decepticons that the Allspark was back, in the form of a human.

"Get him!" Optimus ordered, and was about to follow his own order when a shock ran up his leg, and he looked down to see the Allspark looking at him impatiently. Optimus glanced back up, where Jazz and Bumblebee were already transformed and chasing after Barricade, then frowned down at the Allspark. The Allspark narrowed her eyes at him, and Optimus glared back. She didn't seem to notice, reaching out and sending another shock up Optimus' leg. When he still didn't transform, she turned and started marching down the highway.

With a sigh as he realized he wasn't going to win, Optimus transformed and came up alongside the Allspark, who clambered in and took control again, pushing him to his top speed. They drove in uneasy silence, Optimus listening to the communications network as Jazz and Bumblebee tried to catch Barricade, but ended up losing him - the Decepticon’s alt form was fast, and while neither the scout nor special ops officer were exactly slow, they weren't fast enough to keep up like the twins. When they finally conceeded that they’d lost Barricade, Jazz and Bumblebee headed back to Optimus, and the Autobot leader returned his attention to the Allspark. It seemed to know when it had his attention, or perhaps it was listening into the Autobot communications, as it spoke to him almost immediately.

 _"You are not pleased I repaired that one."_ The Allspark seemed honestly puzzled.

_"He was a Decepticon."_

_"...please explain,"_ the Allspark requested, and Optimus paused in surprise.

 _"The Decepticons are a faction of our race that formed on Cybertron under the rule of my counterpart, Lord Megatron. Though they were once formed to battle corruption and inequality on our homeworld, they have since changed, and now seek to rule over our home and other worlds through force,"_ Optimus explained, doing his best to give a neutral description. _"I lead their opposition, the Autobots. We seek to preserve freedom for all species, and to restore our home."_ There was silence, then the Allspark withdrew from his systems, and Optimus almost swerved off the road before he caught himself. He continued on down the highway towards the next closest Autobot to those in the dam - Cliffjumper - but his attention was mostly focused within his cab, on the Allspark, who was staring thoughtfully out his windshield.

 _"The Well of Allsparks, and by extension I myself, recognize only sparks, not their individual leanings and beliefs,"_ it said finally. _"We were...unaware of any division between the Cybertronians. Truthfully, it does not affect us."_

 _"And why do you believe your previous form was destroyed?"_ Optimus asked promptly. The Allspark looked surprised. " _In order to rule, Lord Megatron wanted control of you, so he could make himself an army. We Autobots tried to protect you for as long as possible, but eventually we had to send you out into space, away from Cybertron, in the hopes of finishing our war fairly. Unfortunately, my brother would not let you be, and went out in search, so we had to, as well. While we searched, I came to realize your continued existance was helping to perpetuate the war. So I determined that, should we find you, you must be destroyed. With you gone, it would be a simple war of principles."_ There was nothing ‘simple’ about the Autobots and Decepticons settling their difference, but it would be easier than the continual fight over the Allspark.

 _"You are saying that I am the cause of your war,"_ the Allspark said slowly.

 _"No, but you are a reason it continues. Without the driving goal of finding you so the war could be ultimately ended, the Decepticons might have made peace or turned on their leaders long ago,"_ Optimus replied. _"There is an equal chance that they might have continued anyways, however - many of them are set in their ideas."_ The Allspark nodded thoughtfully.

 _"I must think on this,"_ it said, and slumped back into Optimus' seat, eyes closing. Optimus watched for a moment, then returned his attention to the road and their destination.


	13. Soundwave and Alaska

Having been warned by the other Autobots that they were coming, Cliffjumper and Beth were waiting outside Tranquility for their little convoy. The Allspark completely ignored the human woman as it climbed out of Optimus' cab and headed for the Cliffjumper. Behind the now stiff Cliffjumper and the concentrating Allspark, Optimus, Jazz, and Bumblebee transformed.

"New one?" Beth asked in surprise as she saw Jazz.

"Jumper didn't mention me? I'm hurt," Jazz said, all but pouting.

"Beth, this is Jazz. Jazz, meet Beth, Alexandra's sister," Optimus introduced.

"Jazz? Didn't you..." Beth paused, glanced at Optimus, then back at her sister. "Huh." She shook herself and turned back to the Autobots. "It's nice to meet you Jazz - and it's good to have you back, Optimus."

"Thank you," Optimus said with a nod. Beth smiled in return, but the smile faded quickly as she looked over at the Allspark, still fixing Cliffjumper. Apparently the mech had a few more dents and dings than Ratchet and Wheeljack.

"She's still...?" Beth waved her hand vaguely, and Optimus nodded.

"I was able to speak with the Allspark via Alexandra's ability to access our communications network, but it said that it was not possible to speak with Alexandra," the Autobot leader said. "I haven't questioned further."

"Why not?" Beth asked sharply. "You knew where the Allspark was heading, you couldn't try to get some answers before you got here?" Optimus found himself glaring down at Beth, but Alexandra's sister just glared right back at him.

"I want to know Alexandra's status just as much as you do, Elizabeth Morgan," he said frostily. "However, the Allspark repaired Barricade shortly after I began my line of questioning, and I found myself explaining the war to a being that was beyond it."

"What?" Beth asked, suddenly worried. "She repaired Barricade?"

"Yeah, then we had t'chase him across half th'state," Jazz grumbled. "An’ he still got away."

"The Allspark apparently did not realize there was a difference between Autobot and Decepticon," Optimus said wearily.

"How could it not?" Beth asked with a frown. "From what Cliffjumper was explaining earlier, the Allspark is tied into your Well of Allsparks thingy, which is like your guys' afterlife - so wouldn't it know who was good or evil?" Optimus shook his head.

"The Well does not judge the sparks it keeps. Parts of it, like the Matrix of Leadership, may look for specific traits and beliefs in a Cybertronian, but the Well of Allsparks is impartial. The Allspark, used to create life - all life, good or evil - is equally impartial," he explained.

 _"We must go,"_ the Allspark's voice echoed painfully and urgently through Optimus, and he looked up to see that it had finished with Cliffjumper, and was now staring worriedly to the northeast.

"Why?" Jazz asked, obviously having heard the comment. Cliffjumper, free from the Allspark, frowned down at it.

"Since when could you talk over our network like Alex?" he asked, but was ignored.

 _"The allies of the other approach,"_ the Allspark said, turning its gaze from the sky and heading for Optimus. Optimus transformed and popped the driver's door to his cab, the Allspark climbing in and immediately taking control. Optimus was quickly speeding away, barely having time to hear Beth’s irritable request to know what was going on, but not Cliffjumper's response. It wasn't long before the Porsche was visible in Optimus' rear mirrors, behind Jazz and Bumblebee. Beth was at the wheel, but Optimus doubted she was driving.

Turning his mind from the Bots behind him, Optimus instead concentrated on contacting the others, letting them know what was happening. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were the next closest, but they were several hours away, and even Beth could now see the Seekers approaching from the northeast. There were five of them - the full force of Decepticons left on earth, minus Barricade, but the enforcer could very well be on the ground, out of sight. Even without Barricade, it would barely be an even fight, especially with two unarmed humans that the Autobots needed to protect. Optimus paused at that, wondering, and spoke to the Allspark.

"If it comes to fighting, what will you do?" he asked.

 _"Undetermined,"_ the Allspark replied curtly, and as if on cue, the Seekers launched their missiles.

Optimus felt himself swerve out of the way, then the Allspark was out of his cab, a shock from it having him transformed before he could think of it. Behind him and to his left, he could see Cliffjumper in the ditch, an apparently uninjured Beth scrambling out the passenger door. As soon as she was clear, Cliffjumper transformed and came to join his Prime as they prepared themselves for the attack. Bumblebee and Jazz transformed and took up their own stations, readying for the next pass by the Seekers.

Though Optimus knew it had to grate on Starscream, who had managed to accomplish what Megatron hadn’t, the Decepticons didn’t outwardly react to the reappearance of two supposedly dead mechs. They came in fast and hard, using their flight capabilities to their advantage. The Autobots, under their barrage, were forced to slowly retreat towards the dubious cover of a stand of trees in order to protect the two humans behind them.

The Allspark watched the battle with mild interest, the most action it took being to pull Beth out of the way of stray blasts and flying chunks of earth and asphalt. Even as adept as the Allspark seemed to be at predicting those dangers, however, Optimus knew they needed to get it and Beth out of there. Not only for their physical safety, but beacause there was little doubt that this attack was an attempt at grabbing the Allspark.

The attack itself was a bit more blatant than Optimus would have expected – Starscream had always been more subtle than Megatron in his tactics, unless he had a distinct advantage, like he'd had when the Seekers had killed Optimus. A frontal assault to grab a human didn’t seem like Starscream's style. In fact, even for a frontal assault, this was out of character. Usually a head-on battle like this would have insults flying fast and furiously between the two sides as each tried to get a rise out of the other. Glancing sideways to Cliffjumper, Optimus couldn’t remember the last time a Decepticon hadn’t tried to get a rise out of the volatile minibot.

Realization hit Optimus like missile to the face, and he suddenly whirled to face the trees they’d been backing towards. A flash of silver caught his optics at the same moment a ghostly shape pinged back on his sensors – nearly invisible, if he hadn’t been looking for someone behind him. Growling, Optimus fired several times into the trees.

The blasts hit, and then a shadowy figure nearly as large as Optimus moved forwards, red optic band glowing brightly

"Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw: retrieve." The cold, emotionless voice could only belong to one Decepticon, one that Optimus had hoped wouldn't reach earth for a long, long time: Soundwave. He may only be third in command, but he was easily the most dangerous Decepticon next to Megatron. His collection of loyal symbiotes were bad enough, but combined with his communications specialty and a gift of telepathy, he was nearly unstoppable when he set his mind to a goal.

"Jazz, behind us!" Optimus called, aiming for one of said symbiotes as three of them emerged from the trees, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak flying and Ravage loping along the ground like a demented Earth panther. Buzzsaw dodged agilely out of the way, and the Prime spared a moment to wish Bluestreak was nearby - the sharpshooter had always been the one Autobot capable of reliably hitting either of Soundwave’s flying symbiotes.

Meanwhile, Jazz had left the Seekers to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, whirling to face the new threat. He fired off several shots at Ravage, who was rapidly approaching Beth and the Allspark. Optimus was trying to keep Buzzsaw and Laserbeak busy, but let Bumblebee have that job when the smaller bot had a momentary break in holding off the Seekers and proved himself to be a better shot - neither of them had yet to hit either Laserbeak or Buzzsaw, but Bumblebee's shots weren't quite as far off.

That left Optimus and Cliffjumper to deal with the five Seekers - an unfair fight by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't long until a barrage of concentrated missile and canon fire sent Cliffjumper flying into stasis, and Optimus took several shots to one of his knees that made it unable to support him. Jazz left Bumblebee to deal with Soundwave's pets in order to protect his leader, and they might have yet managed to hold off for awhile yet had Soundwave not taken that moment to step in, blasting Bumblebee backwards and giving his symbiotes time to grab the two humans.

Optimus, glancing over his shoulder in time to see the capture, expected the Allspark to take action, free itself somehow - it certainly had the power - but it did nothing, simply hanging from Laserbeak's claws as the symbiotes returned to their master. No sooner had they returned to Soundwave than the Decepticons withdrew, leaving the battered Autobots behind.

\---

Beth awoke with a shiver, instinctively wrapping her arms around herself. In the process, she realized she was lying on the ground, which was part of the reason why she was so cold. She pushed herself upright and climbed to her feet, then hugged herself again and looked around.

She was in a room - large to her, but it would have barely fit Optimus, and been cramped for any of the other Autobots. The floor, ceiling, and walls were stone, save for one wall which looked as if it was made of glass, though it gave off a curious glow. On the other side of the glass was an even larger room with a Cybertronian-sized metal door.

A touch on Beth's shoulder caused her to jump, yelping, and she turned to find Alex - no, the Allspark - standing impassively behind her. The Allspark arched one of her sister's eyebrows at her, then ambled over to the glass wall, seeming curious.

"What's going on? Where are we?" The Allspark looked back at Beth and frowned. "Right, you can only speak to Auobots," the younger Morgan muttered, then went to join her sister at the wall.

"Don't suppose you have any idea on how to get out of here?" Beth asked after only a few minutes, unable to handle both silence and cold. Surprisingly, the Allspark nodded. "Oh. Well are you going to act on those ideas?" The Allspark shook Alex's head. "Why not?" The Allspark looked over with another frown, then reached out and touched Beth's shoulder. Warmth spread down her frame, and the fogginess that remained from being unconcious cleared.

"Uh, thanks," Beth said with a blink. The Allspark nodded, then faced forward again, its attention on the door in the room beyond. Beth stood for a time as well, staring at the door.

"Well, this is sure exciting." Beth glanced over at the Allspark. "Shall we play twenty questions?" The Allspark didn't move or acknowledge her. "Great, not only do you steal my sister, but you're good for absolutely no entertainment when being held prisoner by – I assume those were Decepticons?" The Allspark nodded hesitantly. "You seem unsure." Beth frowned, then recalled her conversation with Optimus. "Oh, right, you didn't know about Decepticons or Autobots until recently. Which, y'know, is weird, since you continue to say that Alex is in there, but you don't seem to have any of her knowledge." The Allspark shot Beth an annoyed look.

"Oh don't give me that look. I need to talk or do something, otherwise I'm going to go crazy - never should have let Josh convince me to watch the Saw movies - and since I don't like you anyways - stealing someone's sister tends to prompt that reaction - I might as well bother you." The Allspark's eyes closed momentarily, and then, surprisingly, Alex's head suddenly swung forward to bang against the glass wall. Beth smirked.

"So how do you feel about singing? There's this great song I know, it gets on everybody's nerves..."

\---

"...23 bottles of whatever the hell that weird pink stuff is that Cliffjumper drinks on the wall, 23 bottles of -" Beth stopped her singing abruptly as there was motion beyond the glass wall. She scrambled up from where she'd been sitting at the rear of the room - or cell, she supposed - and headed for the glass where the Allspark still stood. Reaching the glass, Beth saw the door to the room beyond slide open, and a silver, black, and purple Decepticon stepped in, heading for the glass wall.

He said something in Cybertronian, the alien words somehow sounding harsher coming from him than they did from Autobots, and the Allspark abruptly grabbed Beth and dragged her away from the glass wall. When they'd reached the back of the cell, the Decepticon waved a hand off to the side of the cell, and the glass wall...glittered, shimmered, and disappeared.

"Whoa," Beth murmured. "Not glass, then." The Allspark didn't acknowledge her comment as the Decepticon took one step forward, then grabbed a human in each hand. Beth didn't scream - she just remained very, very still, eyes wide and holding onto the mech hand around her with a white-knuckle grip. In the other hand, the Allspark seemed completely at ease as the Decepticon turned and left the room.

They went down a long hallway, coming into a truly massive room by human standards, easily the size of a football field. In comparison to the Decepticons in it, it looked barely larger than Beth's livingroom, though, and she smirked faintly at that. There were two other mechs in the room similar to the one holding Beth and the Allspark, one of the flight-capable Decepticons, and a bulkier mech that Beth vaguely remembered from when they were captured, bearing - Beth blinked - two robotic birds perched on either shoulder, and a to-scale robotic panther following on its heels. To one side of the room, a black-and-white mech that fit the descriptions of Barricade that Beth had heard.

The room itself was made of stone, like the cell, but where the walls didn't open onto other dark corridors, they were lined with computers. There were some type of lights in the ceiling, looking like the alien equivalent of flourescent lights, and as Beth watched, one of the robo-birds left its shoulder perch to land on top of a light, where it glared down at her menacingly.

Beth drew back from the stare nervously, only to find herself unceremoniously dumped onto a table in the center of the room. She let out an alarmed yelp, but almost immediately felt her sister's hand on her shoulder, warmth flowing through her. Beth swallowed and stood, nodded her thanks to the Allspark as it took a step away from her.

The flyer Decepticon stepped forward then, attention wholely on the Allspark, who returned the regard curiously. He spoke in Cybertronian, which meant Beth was left out of the loop, but she was fine with that. If they weren’t speaking English, that meant they didn’t want her – just the Allspark. From what Cliffjumper had told her, the Allspark was essentially a holy artifact, which meant they probably wouldn’t harm it. Even if it couldn’t reply to their questions. Beth was just smiling at that when all the Decepticons suddenly stiffened, their attention snapping towards the Allspark.

"How is she in our network?" the flier demanded shrilly in English of the mech with the robo-animals. Beth looked over at the Allspark in surprise, then shrugged – the Allspark was powerful enough to bring Optimus and Jazz back from the dead. Why should hacking into the Decepticon network be beyond it? She wasn’t going to willingly supply that the Allspark was just using an ability of Alex’s, though. Instead, she took a seat on the table as the mech with the robo-animals stepped forward, gaze intent on the Allspark.

The flier stayed near, just behind the other mech, and judging from the expressions that crossed his face every once and awhile, the interrogation of the Allspark had moved to comms. The mech with the robo-pets remained impassive. Eventually, he looked back at the flier, who made an irritated noise and turned away, his entire bearing saying that he was washing his clawed hands of the situation.

"Return them," the impassive mech said in a monotone voice, and Barricade stepped forward this time, picking up the two humans and carrying them back to their cell.

"That did not relieve my boredom in the slightest," Beth muttered to herself during the trip. There was a snort from Barricade, and she glanced up at him in surprise. He was glowering down the hallway, and Beth smirked. "Awww, is not everything sunshine and lollipops in little Decepticon-land?" Barricade stopped and looked down at Beth with a scowl, then glanced suspiciously between her and the Allspark.

"You two are of the same family unit." It wasn't a question.

"How'd you guess?" Beth asked cheerily.

"Can only be one organic family unit crazy enough to throw rocks at and taunt Decepticons," Barricade grunted as he resumed walking.

"Throw rocks?" Beth asked, arching an eyebrow. "She never told me that."

"Hit that fragging yellow glitch, too," Barricade said with a smirk as they pass through the door into the room beyond Beth and the Allspark's cell.

"Watch your language!" Beth retorted – she may not have known exactly what the words meant, but she’d heard Cliffjumper use them enough to know that they were curses. She could have sworn Barricade rolled his optics at her as he stepped into the still-open cell and placed Beth and the Allspark near the back. He stepped out quickly and re-activated the 'glass' - or whatever - wall, far faster than either human could have run the distance between the back of the cell and the wall. Then he turned and stomped out.

"Y'know, it's sad that a two minute conversation with Barricade was more entertaining than you've been in the past several hours," Beth said, turning to the Allspark. She received a weary look in return, before the Allspark returned to the front of the cell. With a shrug, Beth settled herself at the back again. "Now, what number was I on...? Hmm, can't remember – guess I'll have to start again."

\---

"Where's Beth?" Optimus shook his head at the first words out of Cliffjumper's mouth after Ratchet finished repairing him and brought him back online. They were in Hoover Dam again, having been hauled back by both human and Autobot, and Cliffjumper, Bumblebee and Optimus were being cared for in Ratchet’s appropriated med bay. Jazz was the only one who'd escaped, having miraculously come out of the fight with no more than scratches.

"Wherever the Allspark is," Ratchet replied shortly.

"Which is?" Cliffjumper asked with a frown.

"Decepticon hands, likely," Optimus answered. 

"And when are we going to rescue them?" Cliffjumper demanded.

"We are going to go rescue them when we have something more than a flying glitchmouse’s clue as to where they are. Until then, you are going to lay here and rest so your self-repair systems can finish what I started," Ratchet said with a glare that was more for Bumblebee than Cliffjumper. 

"I feel fine," Bumblebee muttered.

"Do you know how many sensitive system lines got disrupted with that blast Soundwave hit you with? No, obviously not, otherwise you wouldn't have tried to get up and go for a walk. How could I expect you to know, really, since it's not like anyone on this planet besides me knows the slightest thing about advanced reconstructive surgeries for Cybertronians. Not that it stops you all from thinking that you know about it anyways!" Ratchet's rant ended with him stomping into his office/quarters and slamming the door behind him.

"Way to frag him off before I even wake up," Cliffjumper grumbled to Bumblebee, who shrugged and only looked mildly apologetic.

"Shoulda heard him earlier," Jazz said from the entrance to the med bay, grinning widely. Bumblebee narrowed his optics at the lieutenant, who blithely ignored him. "He went on a real rave, scared th'humans - almost got shot at when he up and deactivated Bumblebee's motor controls on him and some human security officer thought he'd turned on the Autobots or somethin'. Guy reminded me of Red Alert." Jazz frowned slightly, the returned to his usual grin.

"Is there a reason you're here, Jazz?" Bumblebee asked with a glare. Even though the occurrence had caused some much-needed relief for the tense Autobots, it was clear the small Autobot would have rather not been the source of the laughter.

"Actually, yeah," Jazz said, turning to Optimus. "We've been goin' over all the reports the government's collected on weird-coloured F-22s, and we think we found a pattern."

"Oh?" Optimus asked curiously.

"Well, they've had some pretty random flight patterns, but just over a third of the recorded ones go in the general direction of Alaska. We got in contact with a few bases up there, and apparently some'a the soldier's have reported seein' a 'ghost plane’, appearin' and disappearin' out of nowhere - we're figurin' Skywarp. There was also one incident where an entire costal village, 'round thirty or so people, seemed to have been attacked and killed by rabid wolves. There were organic animal corpses, but there were also some suspiciously large paw and claw marks that didn't match any of the dead, and weren't quite natural," Jazz reported. "The humans are doing some passive surveillance of the area, 'n Wheeljack's got a few devices of his doing energy scans. I double-checked 'em to make sure they won't explode before I let 'im use 'em." Optimus blinked, having been unprepared for the efficiency of his lieutenant after having done without it.

"Jazz?"

"Yes Optimus?"

"I'm glad you're back." Jazz and Bumblebee both snorted, then shot each other amused looks.

"You're only sayin' that because the Prowler ain't made it here yet," Jazz said once he returned his attention to Optimus.

"Well, yes," Optimus admitted with amusement. "But until then, you're a decent replacement."

"I learned from th’best," Jazz said with a wide grin. "Now, if y’all will excuse me -"

"Of course," Optimus said with a nod, and Jazz saluted sloppily - something he'd, quite annoyingly, picked up from the humans - before leaving the med bay. There was momentary silence after he left.

"I remember him being less...annoyingly cheerful," Cliffjumper said after a moment.

"Doctor Adair was in earlier trying to convince Ratchet it was something called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Bumblebee mused.

"What?"

"He's compensating for dieing by being cheerful."

"Oh."

 _"I thought I told you three to rest!_ " Three sets of optics blinked off faster than they ever had before.

\---

"Hold on Jazz, I thought you said Wheeljack's energy scan came back completely negative," Optimus asked with a frown, stopping his lieutenant in the middle of his briefing. It was a week after the Allspark and Beth had been taken, and Ratchet had only just let his three patients get back to their duties. He still didn't seem to think they were ready for combat, but Jazz was adamant that the quicker they moved, the better, and so the medic had relented.

"Exactly," Jazz agreed with Optimus. There were blank looks from all the other Autobots, save for a smirking Wheeljack, the only other one to get it.

"Then what makes you think the Decepticons have a base on this particular stretch of Alaskan coastline?" Optimus asked carefully.

"Because even when there's nothing but wilderness, my scans pick up energy - heat energy from below the crust, if nothing else," Wheeljack burst out excitedly, then pointed to the highlighted stretch of coastline on the map Jazz was projecting on the floor. "This part of the coastline has absolutely no energy signature, though."

"Which mean's somethin's cloaking energy signatures in that area. An' since the humans don't have technology powerful enough to do that over this large an area, it can only be the Decepticons," Jazz continued. "Plus, it makes sense, as this area is mainly rock, which the Decepticons could have easily tunneled into."

"What do we know about the area, then?" Optimus asked. 

"Nothing useful, but we’ve got that covered," Major Lennox said from the catwalk that jutted out into the room at about shoulder height to Optimus, allowing the much smaller Major to be part of the briefing. "There's a special ops teams en route to the area right now - they'll scout it out, then report to us when we get there. They've got some advanced stealth technology, and they're the best we have that wasn't already in the field, so hopefully they should remain undetected."

"If not, the Decepticons won’t hesitate in killing them," Ironhide grunted.

"I made very sure to impress that point on them," Lennox said seriously. "They'll be careful."

"Very well," Optimus said with a nod. Like hitting the play button on a paused DVD, his words caused a sudden flurry of movement in the underground room as everyone began getting ready - in addition to the Autobots, Lennox had gathered his team from Mission City, and they were loading themselves down with appropriate weapons and gear - just about anything one of them thought might come in handy, they took, as long as it was light enough. When they were ready, the Autobots and their human allies headed out, on their way to a nearby airbase where a C-5 waited to transport them all up to Alaska.

\---

Beth was sitting alone in her and the Allspark's cell in the Decepticon base. By now, she was so far beyond bored that it defied description. After that first trip, she hadn’t been taken out of the cell again, only the Allspark, and singing to herself got boring fast. She'd tried convincing whoever came and got the Allspark to bring her something – anything – to do, up to and including something as simple as a pile of coal so she could draw on the stone walls and floor, but they'd ignored her. Which, combined with the fact that more often than not the Allspark ignored her as well, was not helping in the boredom department.

The Decepticons weren't even bringing her food or water - Beth hadn't noticed it at first, but any time the Allspark touched her, sending that warmth through her, it cleared any hunger or tiredness. The latter was depressing, since it meant she couldn't even sleep away her boredom.

Looking up as she heard a noise, Beth was disturbingly happy to see one of the flying Decepticons returning with the Allspark. Her happiness disappeared, however, as she realized this time something was wrong. The Decepticon was carrying the Allspark flat in his hand, and it wasn't moving. Beth rushed over as the force field dropped and the flyer set the Allspark down with surprising care, then stepped back and reactivated the field before leaving. They'd become less cautious about having their prisoners near the back of the cell when they'd activated it - Beth had gotten out once, but had been caught by the robo-panther in a matter of seconds, and it was now visible at the end of the hallway anytime one of the Decepticons came to get the Allspark.

Turning to said Allspark, Beth frowned as she looked down at her sister's body. It seemed unharmed, but Beth hadn't seen it unconscious since Optimus' funeral, before the Allspark took control. It was worrying. Especially since Beth knew she would starve without the Allspark. When she kneeled kneeled next to her sister's body however, Alex's eyes snapped open.

Then Beth did a double take.

Her sister's _brown_ eyes snapped open.

"Beth...?" The voice was hoarse from misuse, and Beth's eyes widened as the simple, one-syllable name confirmed that this was really Alex talking, not the Allspark.

"Alex, oh my god, are you alright? What happened? How have you been? The Allspark wouldn't tell us what had happened to you!" Beth babbled, pulling her sister up into a crushing hug, only to release her hurriedly as Alex groaned. Laying her sister back down gently, Beth watched carefully as Alex looked around their room.

"What's happening?" Alex asked finally.

"You don't know?" Beth asked, somewhat surprised. Alex shook her head - and suddenly her body spasmed. Beth desperately tried to hold her sister down, to stop her from getting hurt, but the spasm was over quickly. Beth looked up - into glowing blue eyes. The Allspark blinked, seeming puzzled.

"I spoke to Alex. I know she's in there, and I know it's possible - you will let me talk to her again," Beth growled, not moving as she narrowed her eyes at the Allspark. The Allspark shook its head. "I know she's in there! I want to speak to my sister again!" The Allspark shot Beth an annoyed look, and she was flung off like a rag doll - not hard enough to hurt her, but enough to get the point across that Beth was no match for the Allspark, even had she been stronger than Alex normally. As she staggered to her feet, Beth glared at the Allspark, who was now standing in its usual spot at the front of the cell, looking out. Beth debated trying a more civil argument about getting to talk to her sister again, but before she could, the Allspark turned and beckoned her over.

Wary, Beth walked over, and when she'd reached the Allspark, it grabbed one of her hands. Beth tensed, waiting for the sustaining warmth to flow through her, but it didn't - she felt tingly instead, as if she'd just received a jolt of electricity. She frowned, then yelped as the Allspark pulled her forward - right through the force field. The tingling increased to almost painful levels as they passed through, then disappeared entirely on the other side. The Allspark let go of Beth's hand and nodded.

"What - could you do that all along?" Beth asked suspiciously, and the Allspark gave her an amused look, as if to say 'of course, dummy'. Beth scowled. "So what, were you just waiting around for something?" The Allspark nodded, and set off towards the large metal door leading to the hallway to the main control center. The door opened at a touch from the Allspark, and it set off, only to pause and glance impatiently at Beth. Beth sighed.

"I suppose you have a plan as to how to get past the robo-panther of doom and the others?" she asked, and the Allspark nodded. Grumbling to herself about the boredom she'd been forced to endure while the Allspark waited for the perfect time to make this escape, Beth followed after, staying just a step behind the Allspark.

The robo-panther appeared out of nowhere when they were halfway down the hall, but energy shot from Alex to the Decepticon, and it collapsed in a heap, optics dark. Beth stared at it as they passed, and jumped when she saw one foot twitch - not dead then, just unconscious. She wasn't quite sure which she had wanted. Then voices caught her attention, speaking in Cybertronian, and Beth sped up her pace so she was walking a little closer to the Allspark.

They emerged into the main room to find several Decepticons standing there, doing whatever it was that Decepticons did. All the fliers were gone, even whoever it was that had returned the Allspark to the cell, but Barricade and two other car-alts were there, along with the mech with the robo-pets. They weren’t paying any attention to the hallway to the prison, probably trusting the robo-panther, and for a moment Beth thought that they’d be able to walk right out without confronting anyone else. Then the mech with the pets suddenly looked up, spotting them near instantly.

"Escape: foolish," he intoned, and the nearest Decepticon bent to pick up the two humans. The Allspark sent out a jolt of electricity, and the Decepticon collapsed just as the robo-panther had. The Allspark kept walking, and Beth hurried along behind it, not particularly wanting to be left behind. A motion from their master, and the two robo-birds came swooping down from their perches on the lights. They too fell to the Allspark.

"Get them." The anger in the normally monotone voice was almost scarier than the previous lack of any emotion - but it didn’t matter. Barricade and the other remaining Decepticons moved to intercept the two humans, but the Allspark handled them just as neatly as it had the others. A low, irritated growl came from the only mech now left standing, but he was apparently smart enough to realize a futile effort when he saw it, and didn't attack. As they headed into a corridor that Beth assumed was the way out, she couldn't help turning and waving cheekily back at him. He glared back at her as Beth turned and followed the Allspark out.

\---

When the Autobots landed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, the base closest to the suspected Decepticon base, they were talking quietly with each other and the human team, making preliminary plans and discussing logistics, mentally preparing themselves for the battle ahead. It all flew from their minds, however, when they stepped off the C-5 to find Beth waiting, sitting cross-legged on the hood of a jeep.

"Hi guys!" she said, waving cheerfully. The special ops team standing around her, the team that had found Beth and the Allspark walking away from the Decepticon base without anyone in pursuit, watched with amusement as both the Autobots and Lennox's team stood in speechless shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The random Alaskan air force base has a name in this edit! As you probably noticed. So, just FYI: Never been to Alaska (too cold, brr), never been to an air force base, made up names and ranks of people at Elmendorf.


	14. Explanations and New Arrivals

"So you two just walked out?" Lennox asked with understandable disbelief as Beth recounted her and the Allspark's time in, and escape from, the Decepticon base. They were at Elmendorf still, gathered in the only hanger large enough to hold the Autobots for a group debriefing.

"Pretty much, yeah. The Allspark all but said it could have done so any time, but that it was waiting for something," Beth replied with a shrug.

"And since she collapsed shortly after we found the two of them, I think we can assume she was waiting for someone friendly to get close enough," the leader of the special ops team, Major Merrill, spoke up.

"Yes, you mentioned the Allspark collapsed and was in the infirmary," Optimus said with a frown, and Merrill nodded.

"The doctors were saying that she had tumors pretty much everywhere, and they caused her collapse. But the last time I checked in, they said everything was healing itself," he replied. Optimus shot Ratchet a worried look.

"May I see her?" Ratchet asked Merrill, and the major hesitated.

"Well, ah, the infirmary is a pretty small place..." he said.

"Just have the medics bring her outside for a few minutes so I can scan her," Ratchet said, and Merrill nodded, then motioned for one of his men to take the Autobot medic to the infirmary.

"Oh, Ratchet, I should probably mention - the Decepticons weren't feeding us, so the Allspark was doing...something...to keep me from starving. So it may have over-exerted itself," Beth offered as Ratchet headed out, and he nodded down at her before leaving.

"So what are th' chances of the Cons followin' you two anytime soon?" Jazz asked Beth, who shrugged.

"They looked pretty out for the count when we left. The robo-panther - Ravage, you said? - twitched once, but I didn't see any of the others move once the Allspark zapped 'em," she said. "The only one in any shape to follow was the one with all the pets."

"Soundwave," Cliffjumper supplied.

"He won't follow by himself," Ironhide said with a grunt, and Optimus nodded.

"Soundwave's strengths lie in his symbiotes and his ability to manipulate other mechs," the Prime said. "He won't attack until the others are operational again."

"He'll have no trouble tracking them here once he does have his back-up dancers, though," Sideswipe commented.

"He probably already has – even if he didn’t attack, he undoubtedly tracked their departure from the base. There’s also the fact that Beth mentioned none of the Seekers were present in the base when they escaped, so they will still be functional," Optimus returned.

"Screamer’s tactics so far have been to attack when he has a known advantage, with the majority of his troops," Jazz pointed out. "His Seekers may be fine, but I doubt ‘Wave will leave his symbiotes behind, and most of the ground pounders are out for the count. That leaves him at half strength, against a base full’a humans that have helped kill a Seeker already, and possible Autobot backup."

"He will wait for the others to recover," Optimus agreed. "Even if we’re gone by then, however, I don’t trust Starscream not to attack this base anyways for retribution."

"So we evacuate non-essential personnel and make a stand. Kick them so hard they can’t come after us until we’re someplace safe and well-defended," Lennox spoke up. Optimus hesitated briefly before nodding, and the Major turned to Merrill. "Find Colonel Hartley, tell him to start the evac, and then report back with an estimate of how long it will take." Merrill saluted and took off.

After that, they went into defensive and attack strategies, and Beth found herself once again bored. She eventually slipped out of the hanger and made her way to the infirmary, where Ratchet was still running scans on the unconscious Allspark. Beth hadn't mentioned her sister's brief emergence before their escape, wanting to talk with the Autobot medic about it first.

"How's she doing?" Beth asked softly as she came up on the other side of Alex from Ratchet. There was a human nurse standing at the entrance to the infirmary, but otherwise the doctors had left Ratchet to his scans.

"From what the base doctors have told me, she is better, but the amount of tumors and growths in her body is..." Ratchet shook his head. "Primus only knows how she's still alive."

"She's still healing though, right?" Beth asked worriedly, and even more worriedly, Ratchet turned his attention from the Allspark to Beth.

"Yes, but the rate of healing has slowed steadily ever since I began scanning her. At its current rate, it will stop well before she's healed entirely," he said gently.

"What's that mean?" Beth asked, feeling a chill go down her spine despite the heavy parka and winter clothing protecting her from the below freezing temperatures.

"I'm not sure," Ratchet replied with a sigh. "It's not a good sign, though. I had the opportunity to look at Emily's original x-rays and test results from right after the Allspark took over Alex, and I did a few scans myself. Back then, everything indicated that the Allspark was healing damage at exactly the same rate as it was causing it, keeping Alex's body in a sustainable equilibrium. Now, however, that balance seems to have been interrupted. My best guess is that it took more energy than the Allspark let on to keep itself in that sort of balance, and when it was keeping you alive and healthy in the Decepticon base, it was draining its own energy, so it couldn't keep up with healing."

"But it doesn't have to sustain me now, why isn't it catching up?" Beth asked, giving Ratchet a pleading look, silently asking him to say that it was, and he was mistaken earlier.

"As I said, apparently it took almost all of the Allspark's strength to maintain the balance. Now it's having to do double duty on the healing end," Ratchet explained patiently. He watched Beth for several moments as she stared morosely at her sister, then returned to his scans.

"I spoke to Alex," Beth said softly after awhile, barely loud enough for Ratchet to hear, but his head shot up when he did.

"What?" he asked, the shock clear in his voice. "Are you sure it -" Ratchet stopped as he saw the look on Beth’s face as she nodded.

"Her eyes were brown, and she spoke - in English. It was right before we escaped. The Allspark looked worried when I told it I had spoken to her - I think that might have been another reason it chose to escape when we did," Beth replied. Ratchet frowned, looking back down at the Allspark. "Ratchet...she sounded so confused. She didn't even know what was going on."

"We'll just have to explain it to her when this is all over," Ratchet said quietly after a pause.

"This what?" Beth asked forlornly. "This battle, or the war between you and the Decepticons? When do I get my sister back, Ratchet?" Ratchet, not knowing the answer, remained silent.

\---

"Uh, sirs - we're having a bit of a problem," Sergeant Epps interrupted Optimus, Lennox, Colonel Hartley, and Major Merrill’s strategy meeting. The four leaders fell quiet and turned their attention to the sergeant.

"What is it?" Lennox asked.

"Beth. She refuses to leave."

"Has Cliffjumper spoken with her?" Optimus asked, and Epps nodded.

"She threw a rock at him and...well, I'm not going to repeat what she told him to go do," the sergeant said with a fleeting grin. "Suffice it to say that she seems to think that if the Allspark can stay, so can she." The four leaders exchanged glances.

"I'll talk to her," Optimus said finally. Motioning for Epps to lead the way, he followed the sergeant out of the hanger. It wasn’t hard to spot Beth once outside - she was clinging to the medical bed holding the Allspark while Ratchet tried to pry her off without harming either her or the Allspark. He wasn't having much success. Optimus sighed, wondering just how the two of them had gotten to that point, and just as quickly deciding he didn’t want to know. When one of the Morgan sisters was involved, anything was possible.

"Let her go," Optimus told Ratchet gently as he stepped over, and the medic grumpily did just that, Beth re-adjusting and tightening her grip on the bed as soon as she had the opportunity. She glared up at Optimus.

"I am not going anywhere," she stated firmly.

"Beth, you need to leave. You cannot fight, and we cannot protect you," Optimus said as soothingly as he could manage.

"What about Alex? She's not even moving, and she's staying! How can you protect her, but not me?" Beth replied sharply. "I can at least dodge."

"The Decepticons will not hurt the Allspark. They _will_ hurt you," Optimus said patiently. "We are also not entirely sure that the Decepticons will attack if she’s not here. They may follow us into the air, attacking us when we are unable to defend ourselves."

"So basically she's your bait," Beth replied. "Great, wonderful - I thought you _liked_ my sister. But here you are, putting her in danger -"

"Elizabeth!" Optimus cut off her rant sharply. "I miss Alexandra greatly - right now, however, she is not Alexandra, she is the Allspark, something that both Autobots and Decepticons have fought over for literally thousands of years. She will be fought over, will be put in danger, no matter where she is. Here, at least, we have a chance of effectively defending her."

"Then let me stay and help," Beth said stubbornly, and Optimus sighed.

"You cannot fight. It will be easier for us to defend your sister's body, to defend the Allspark, if we do not have to defend you, as well," he said. Beth glared up at him, and Optimus stared impassively back. It was an odd staring match, and a few of the base personnel heading by to help evacuate the non-essential personnel stopped and stared for a moment before continuing.

"That's just playing dirty," Beth growled finally, but let go of the bed, which the doctors quickly wheeled away from her and back into the infirmary.

"It's the truth," Optimus pointed out, and it was Beth's turn to sigh.

"I know, I know. Sometimes I hate the truth," she grumbled, then stood and headed off to where the last vehicle was waiting for her before setting out. Optimus shook his head as he watched her go.

"Humans are amazingly stubborn when it comes to protecting those they love," he mused.

"And we aren't?" Ratchet said, giving Optimus an amused look, and the Autobot leader frowned at his old friend. "I seem to recall someone telling Alexandra to get to safety when their sensors were screaming about a Decepticon presence, and only calling for help, and thereby letting the Decepticons know that they weren't as sneaky as they thought they were, once she was safely away." Optimus shook his head.

"That was different," he said, knowing it was a feeble excuse even as he said it. Ratchet knew it, too, and knew that Optimus knew it, so he just smiled serenely and headed off to help with preparations. Optimus shook his head again and returned to his meeting.

Since no one knew exactly how long it would take the Decepticons to recover, they did their preparations in stages - the most important defenses came first, then others following as time allowed. It was a good thing, too, as it was only five hours after they finished the evacuation that Bluestreak spotted Laserbeak flying overhead. The sharp-shooter took a shot at the symbiote, but it was flying too far above to get a clear shot, and sped off towards the Decepticon base as soon as it realized Bluestreak had spotted it. The rest of the Decepticons came not long after that.

With ten Autobots and an entire base of humans versus seven Decepticons and three symbiotes, it should have been, at the very least, a fair fight, if not tipped in the Autobot's favour. Optimus alone could take on two Decepticons single-handedly, and Ironhide the same. Unfortunately, the Decepticons had a few tactical advantages the Autobots did not - most of them could fly, and while Soundwave’s telepathic abilities still weren’t usable as a large-scale weapon, they hadn’t counted on the fact that he could use them on humans. The Autobots had counted on the human pilots countering the Seekers, but Soundwave entered in over the airfield, and the pilots and their flight crews went down clutching their heads and screaming in pain as he passed over. Most of them lapsed into unconciousness after only a few moments - completely out for the count.

With the human pilots out of commission, the odds were once again in the Decepticon’s favour, especially as the Autobots tried desperately to protect the fallen humans. After a quickly thwarted effort by the human’s field medics to get their comrades to safety, Ratchet and Wheeljack were left to dodge cannon fire and missiles, and occasionally shoot back, while moving all the unconcious humans to the main hanger that had been set up as the focus of their defense. The Allspark already rested inside, Ratchet having helped the medics move the majority of their supplies into the large space before the attack began.

The Decepticons were well aware of the location of their target, of course - even without Wheeljack and Ratchet ferrying humans into the building, the Autobots weren’t exactly being subtle in their protection of it. The Seekers made constant runs on it, only to be thwarted by one Autobot or another.

Bluestreak was the first on either side to go down - there was no good sniper’s nest for him to hide in, so for once the Decepticons could target the troublesome sharpshooter. A salvo of Seeker missiles had him unconcious and smoking even before Ravage pounced on him and started clawing and ripping off pieces of armor, trying to get to Bluestreak’s spark. Ironhide ripped the symbiote off the gunner and dragged Bluestreak back to the hanger before returning to the fight.

Ravage wasn’t disuaded by the loss of his prey, and with help from a grounded Thundercracker, managed to corner Sideswipe. Sunstreaker came to his twin’s rescue, and Ravage was put out of the fight, but Starscream and Skywarp came to Thundercracker’s rescue, and Sunstreaker’s right arm ended up severed at the shoulder. Optimus chased the Seekers away with a barrage of fire from his rifle, and Sunstreaker hauled his barely concious twin back to the hanger with his good arm.

Knowing Ratchet would want it, Sunstreaker then grouchily went back for his severed arm, only to get clipped in the leg and end up doing a nose-dive in the dirt. Optimus helped him get back to the hanger, the yellow twin complaining loudly the entire way about his paint job and the things he did for his idiotic - _"but still safely in the land of the living, right Ratchet?"_ \- brother. The advantage of the whole escapade was that Optimus managed to knock Thundercracker offline when the grounded Seeker tried to attack them.

Barricade and Bumblebee engaged in a grudge match right from the beginning of combat, which Bumblebee might have won if Soundwave hadn't gotten him with a missile in the back. Barricade almost got the yellow bot's spark, but Jazz tackled the police car, and started to finish what Bumblebee had started. Soundwave stepped in again, distracting the silver Autobot long enough for Barricade to gather himself and get to a safe distance, where he took up position as a sniper. He managed to get Cliffjumper in the leg, sending the mech to the ground, and the Porsche was dragged back to the door of the hanger, where he sat outside, shooting at the Seekers flying overhead, managing to send Dirge careening off into the distance, both his engines spewing thick black smoke.

With Bluestreak out of comission, Laserbeak and Buzzasaw were constant annoyances, moving too quickly and dodging too agilely to be hit. Ratchet had long since retreated to the hanger to deal with critical injuries, and Wheeljack was still getting unconcious humans to safety. That left five Autobots still fighting against the Decepticon’s seven, and Optimus grimaced at those odds. Even with Barricade’s terrible aim, he was still able to do damage - he couldn’t hit a moving target worth slag, but there were plenty of stationary targets, such as human vehicles or ammo caches.

Starscream and Ramjet were still uninjured, and even as Optimus watched, Jazz had to retreat from his battle with Soundwave, grimacing and clutching his helm. Wheeljack gave up on rescuing the humans and came to stand with Ironhide and Optimus, and the Autobot leader wearily called Ratchet out of the hanger as the Decepticons regrouped in preparation for the final assault.

"The Allspark will be ours, Autobots!" Starscream howled, and moved to attack - only to be sent spinning off into the tundra by a blast from Barricade's position. Autobot and Decepticon alike turned in astonishment, expecting to see Barricade...but not expecting to see him unconscious, with a blue Autobot standing over him, calmly taking aim at another of the now-stationary Decepticons. The shot missed as Buzzsaw dodged at the last moment, then everyone exploded into action again as the Autobot disappeared.

"Mirage..." Optimus murmured, wondering when the spy had landed. The Autobots on Earth had been so wrapped up in recent events that they hadn't been watching for new arrivals - a fact made more obvious as a missile from another direction entirely took out Laserbeak. A green mech was seen grinning, and then another shot from yet another direction managed to finally take out Buzzsaw. Starscream screeched out a retreat, and the Decepticons gathered their fallen and took off. The Autobots watched them go with relief as their three new additions came to join them.

"That had to be, tactically, one of the worst battles I've ever seen," a white and black mech, looking suspiciously similar to Barricade, said flatly as he approached, flanked by Mirage and the green mech. Stopping in front of Optimus, he glared up at him. "What did you think you were doing, putting your forces all in one place?"

"Nice to see you, too, Prowl," Optimus said with amusement. Prowl scowled.

"If you've been fighting the Decepticons with tactics like this, I'm surprised to find you still alive," he said. Ironhide turned a laugh into a cough at Optimus' stern look, and Prowl gave the weapons specialist an arched look.

"How did you find us?" Optimus asked, bringing Prowl's attention back to him.

"Hound," Prowl said, nodding to the green mech, who gave a lazy wave.

"Had a bit'a trouble when y'took to th'air, but I managed," he said with a grin.

"Apparently. When did you three arrive?" Optimus asked.

"Using human measurements, eight days ago," Prowl replied. "We had an encounter with Soundwave in orbit that resulted in us crashing in the prairies of Canada with our communications systems non-functional. Unable to communicate, we simply headed for your last known position instead. Fortunately we hadn’t gotten far when Hound’s sensors caught your signals heading rapidly north, and we followed."

"Fortunate indeed," Optimus said with a small smile. "Your timing couldn’t have been more impeccable, Prowl."

"We made the best possible time," Prowl said with a nod of his head, then his optics slid towards the hanger. "Though I must admit to some curiosity as to why you flew north to engage the Decepticons, and why I’m getting such strange readings from that hanger." Optimus considered how to phrase the answer to that, but Ironhide beat him to it.

"Allspark's in a human, Decepticon's caught it, but we got it back, and it's in the hanger," the weapons specialist drawled, and Prowl stared at him for a moment, then looked back at Optimus.

"Your message stated that the Allspark was destroyed," he said.

"The Allspark, apparently, cannot be destroyed," Optimus replied, then set about explaining the whole convoluted situation to the three newcomers. When the Prime got to the part about his death, Prowl shared an amused look with Ironhide, realizing what the big mech had been laughing at earlier.

The humans Soundwave had taken out began to wake up during Optimus' recounting, though Ratchet and Wheeljack were still busy repairing the injured Autobots. Ratchet had a few sharp words with the medics when they started clearing soldiers to help clean up the base, citing known side effects of Soundwave’s telepathy, but a particularly ballsy doctor pointed out that none of them applied to humans so far as they knew. So the humans were allowed to get back to work, while an irritated Ratchet returned to his Autobots patients, muttering in Cybertronian the entire time.

"Amazing how quickly they get back on their feet and just continue on," Prowl commented. "I browsed through their communications network on our approach, and I don't think I've ever run across a species quite so...resilient."

"You haven't even seen the half of it," Cliffjumper said with a grin, and Prowl arched an optic ridge, but Cliffjumper didn’t elaborate as he went to help some soldiers move larger rubble.

"So what's our next move?" Prowl asked Optimus.

"Once everyone's able to be moved, we'll return to our base at the Hoover Dam. I’d hoped the Decepticons might settle some with Megatron dead, but their attack on me proves otherwise, and the re-emergence of the Allspark has clearly reignited their desire to fight, as well," Optimus said wearily. "Though it is a relief to know that it will never be gone, I almost wish it could be destroyed."

 _"A wish as impossible as destroying the universe."_ The voice echoed through all the Autobots, and Ratchet emerged from the hanger moments later, the Allspark sitting in his hand.

"So this is the Allspark?" Prowl asked with a frown, leaning in close.

"As well as the human Alexandra," Optimus confirmed.

 _"Greetings Prowl,"_ the Allspark said, then turned to Optimus. _"What has happened?"_

"You don't know?" Optimus asked, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice.

 _"The power of life does not come hand in hand with omniscience,"_ the Allspark said, sounding annoyed. _"Especially while I am in this form. It was my best choice, but it has many failings, not the least of which is its many frailties."_ Optimus rumbled a bit at that, not liking to hear his friend insulted in that manner, even if he knew logically that the Allspark was only stating a fact.

"If that’s all you wanted to know, I could have told you in the hanger, without you putting more stress on Alex’s body," Ratchet said tartly. "The Decepticons came after you, and we fought them. We almost lost, until Prowl, Mirage and Hound showed up." The Allspark frowned, then looked thoughtfully around. Suddenly, both of Alex's hands were brought down flat on Ratchet's palm.

"Oh not ag-" Ratchet's cranky complaint was halted as he stiffened, Allspark energy crackling around him. It only took a moment for the energy to fade, then the Allspark jumped from the medic's hand to Optimus' shoulder. Before Optimus could do more than stare in surprise, he too stiffened. He felt the dings, scrapes, and various other injuries - small and large - that he'd taken during the battle and Ratchet hadn't yet had a chance to fix repairing themselves.

Under it all, there was a pleasant hum, almost a tune...he frowned, thinking he recognized it, but as he tried to focus on it, it slipped away, and he was free - well, relatively. The Allspark had momentarily hijacked his arm to deliver it to Prowl, who was a bit wary, but Optimus vaguely remembered hearing Ratchet explaining what was happening while the Allspark had been fixing him.

"Ratchet? What's the status of Alexandra's body?" Optimus asked quietly as the Allspark continued its rounds, fixing the newly arrived bots before moving on to the ones damaged in battle.

"Several tumors remain, but the healing process on them has stopped entirely. None of them are life-threatening," Ratchet replied just as quietly.

"Is it safe for the Allspark to be doing this?" Optimus asked, nodding towards the Allspark.

"I've been scanning, but it seems that whatever energy it takes for the Allspark to continue healing Alex is completely separated from whatever is required to repair us," Ratchet responded thoughtfully. "I suspect that the Allspark holds a certain amount of power inside Alex herself - the power inherent to its consciousness. Its life force, if you will. That is what is both healing and killing Alex, and that is what the Allspark exhausted during its stay in the Decepticon base. The power that it uses to repair us, however, comes from somewhere else." Optimus frowned, his mind going back to his first conversation with the Allspark.

"When I first told it of Alexandra's ability to speak through our network...it made a comment, about Alexandra being a channel for both it and the Matrix," the large Autobot said slowly, and Ratchet glanced at his leader.

"That would fit," he said. "Its energies must still be scattered around the world, only gathered when it needs to do something like this. Wheeljack will be glad to hear that little snippet - he's been muttering for months about the discrepancies between the power the cube contained and the power in Alex." Ratchet gave Optimus a wry look, and the Autobot leader chuckled as the Allspark disappeared inside the hanger to deal with the wounded in there. Ratchet, knowing that the most severely wounded were likely to need parts replaced and not just repaired, followed. While the Allspark and Ratchet finished fixing up the last of the wounded Autobots, the healthy ones helped the humans repair the base.

By the end of the day, the Autobots and Lennox's team were waving good-bye to the base personnel as they boarded the surprisingly still intact C-5. As the doors closed and the plane prepped for take-off, Optimus watched the Allspark find a seat in a corner and settle in, seeming deep in thought. It remained quiet for the entire flight, only half-aware as it left the plane and hopped into Optimus’s cab for the short drive to the dam. 


	15. Angsty Optimus and Sparknapping

Ratchet woke early from his recharge and left the dam, heading up the side of one of the mountains to watch the sunrise. It was a habit he'd developed during his stay at the dam - it had been a long time since Cybertron had sunrises like Earth, and he found them a relaxing way to start the day. This morning he found someone in his usual spot, however. In the grey early-morning light, it was impossible to distinguish more than an outline of the other mech, but to someone who had spent their long, long life putting their comrades back together countless times, it was more than enough.

"You're in my spot," Ratchet teased lightly as he approached.

"Apologies," Optimus replied roughly, and made as if to move, but Ratchet stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't. I think I can manage to share a sunrise," the medic said, purposefully keeping his voice light, though Optimus' tone worried him.

Optimus himself had been worrying Ratchet for some time, actually. After the Allspark had supposedly been destroyed in Mission City, and Megatron killed, Optimus had started to loosen up, become more like the young mech he'd been before his brother had betrayed him. It was understandable - two of the main reasons the war was being fought had just been destroyed, and peace was starting to seem possible for the first time in millenia. Only one skirmish had been fought in over a year, for Primus' sake.

Personally, Ratchet had enjoyed the more relaxed Optimus, especially once he'd met up with Alex. The human woman had helped Optimus lose the tenseness that came from shouldering too many burdens he wasn’t meant to bear. He’d started the process himself, but once he met Alex, he’d laugh, tease, joke, and carry on pointless conversations with the younger ‘Bots.

Sunstreaker and Bluestreak had actually stalled, and Sideswipe and Bumblebee had woken up the neighbourhood they were resting in, due to laughter after their leader had interrupted one of their chatter-sessions to make a rather unexpected comment about why exactly the four of them were always teasing each other. Before Earth, Ratchet couldn't even have imagined Optimus making such a comment - between coming to Earth and meeting Alex, Ratchet would only have wistfully hoped for the day in the far-flung future where Optimus might feel relaxed enough to make it.

Since Optimus' return from death, however...Ratchet hadn't even heard him laugh, could count easily the number of times he’d seen the Prime smile. It was like he'd returned to how he was before Mission City, if not worse. He was holding his emotions in again, withdrawing from the others - and he was letting his officers make more and more decisions. Optimus usually liked to lead from the front, to take the brunt of attacks, be they blasts from Decepticons or verbal accusations from his fellow Autobots after a mistake was made - now he was sitting quietly just behind a new front line consisting of Prowl, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet himself. While Ratchet appreciated giving the officers a chance to learn how to lead, it wasn't like Optimus. Not at all.

Watching the sky brighten, Ratchet mused that it was probably a good thing he'd found Optimus out here this morning. For all his worries about the Prime, he hadn't been able to corner him to talk. The medic was responsible for his charge's mental health as well as physical after all, and it was clear that Optimus wasn't dealing well with recent events. Watching the pastel colours spread across the sky, Ratchet contemplated how to start the conversation.

"It's so strange to be fighting again over something we thought was destroyed." Ratchet inwardly grimaced - not the best way to start, but he couldn't come up with any other.

"Just as long as Megatron doesn't return as well," Optimus replied with black humour, and Ratchet glanced over at him worriedly.

"I made very sure he couldn't," Ratchet said, vividly remembering taking out several vital bits of Megatron's systems and either smashing them to bits or launching them into the sun with a re-programmed human missile. "I have to wonder, though, what will happen if the Allspark doesn't stop Alex's body from aging. Maybe all we have to do is play a waiting game, keep the Allspark out of Decepticon hands for sixty to eighty years, and then Alex and the Allspark can die naturally, and the war can die again." There was a grunt from Optimus, but nothing more.

Ratchet paused, considering his next words carefully, then spoke with careful casualness, "Beth told me she spoke to Alex, you know. It was while they were in their cell in the Decepticon base, right before they escaped. From what I gathered, they only had enough time to exchange a few words before the Allspark resurfaced, but Beth got the impression that she had no idea what was going on." Ratchet waited, and just as he gave up and was about to try again, Optimus spoke.

"When I had to leave Elita on Cybertron, I thought I'd lost everything. She was - is - my spark-mate, but somehow we'd never managed to find the time to formalize our bonding, to fully pledge ourselves to each other," Optimus said softly. "When I left, I was terrified - I knew that, because we hadn't bonded, once she was out of sight, out of communications range, I'd have no way to tell if she was alive or dead. I envied those that were bonded - the pain of parting was so much harder for them, some of them even had to shut themselves down for awhile to handle it. But when it came down to it, they would know, wherever they were in the universe, whether or not their mate was alive or dead. I wouldn't have that." Optimus was silent for a moment.

"The humans have an expression about not knowing what you've got until you've lost it. I knew exactly what I had with Elita, and exactly what I was losing when I made the decision for the femmes to stay on Cybertron. Elita knew as well." Optimus bowed his head before continuing, and Ratchet was alarmed to see a tiny tremor go through his old friend. "The bond I had - have - with Alexandra is very different from what I would - did - have with Elita. And I didn't even realize that it was there, or that it meant so much to me, until I found myself held in the air, feeling myself being ripped apart, and saw Alexandra standing there on the highway." There was another pause.

"I remember everything from my death, Ratchet, right up until Starscream ripped my spark from me. I remember trying to tell her to turn away, that she didn't need to see this, but my communications system was one of the first things I lost. I remember watching her standing there, horror clear on her face, and I realized somewhere in there that she would never turn away, even had I been able to ask her to. And then I didn't want her to turn away, because I wanted her to somehow see in my optics what I couldn't tell her - that she was my friend...no, more than that. She was...I don't know what to call her. She means as much to me as Elita does, now." Optimus sighed.

"And then you came back and even though she was there, she was gone," Ratchet murmured, stunned at the depth of feeling his leader had developed for Alexandra. He'd had no idea - he'd thought maybe a close friendship, but this was something beyond that.

"Exactly," Optimus said. "I felt as if I'd been given a second chance and cheated out of half of what made it worth coming back for." Ratchet, unable to find the words to comfort his friend - not even sure if they existed - simply placed his hand on Optimus’s shoulder again, and together they finished watching the sunrise. Neither of them saw the small figure on the dam below them, and even if they had, they wouldn't have thought it could hear them.

\---

Sideswipe was sitting outside the Hoover Dam, looking down the Colorado River. Inside the dam, the other Autobots were having an intensive planning session to determine the best way, and place, to protect the Allspark. When they'd started seriously throwing around the idea of a moon base, Sideswipe had decided to take a break. He figured he should probably go back in soon, though, before the others allowed Sunstreaker to volunteer him as bait or something.

With a sigh, he took one last look down the river, then stood and turned to head back in, only to stop short as he almost stepped on a human. Grimacing, Sideswipe knelt to apologize - the humans got surprisingly offended at almost being stepped on (he didn't know why, personally he preferred not to be noticed at all when a Supreme or gestalt almost stepped on him) - but stopped short when he realized the human was the Allspark, and it was looking straight at him.

 _"Come,"_ it said, and Sideswipe knew only he had heard it's message. He watched dumbly for a moment as it set off to the dam, then followed quickly. He expected it to go inside, but it went off to the side instead, then turned to him expectantly. Sideswipe stared at it for a moment, then realized what it was asking - a lift up.

Wondering where this was going - and if he'd have to call in the others to catch an escaping Allspark - Sideswipe picked up the Allspark and climbed up to the top of the dam, where he set it down on the road. As soon as he'd done so, an unexpected shock went through him, and the next thing he knew he was in his vehicle mode, the Allspark climbing into his driver's seat.

"Hold on, you can't go anywhere, the Decepticons are looking for you!" Sideswipe protested, locking his breaks and refusing to start up.

 _"If they find me, they will not harm me, nor you so long as I am near,"_ the Allspark stated, and then took over Sideswipe's systems. Within moments, they were roaring off down the highway.

"Great. The Allspark is using me to sparknap itself," Sideswipe muttered. "I don't suppose you'd let me call for help?" Sideswipe tried to access his communications, but found them completely shut down. "Figures. So where are we going, oh great Allspark?" To his surprise, the Allspark gained an amused look, then motioned out the windshield vaguely. If he could've at that time, Sideswipe would have blinked. "And the Allspark mysteriously develops a sense of humour. This is just slagging wonderful. Why couldn't you have sparknapped Optimus? Prowl wouldn't kill him..."

 _"The only one who could catch you would stay behind if you ask him to."_ Sideswipe hadn't expected a response to his question, and remained silent for a few minutes out of shock.

"So you specifically picked _me_ , not just because I was the one outside when you decided to leave, but because I'm so fast only Sunny can keep up?" Sideswipe managed to ask finally.

 _"I am not blind to what goes on around me. I may not have been aware of this war before, but I understand now how each side would desire power over me,"_ the Allspark replied.

"The Decepticons want power over you, we just want to protect you," Sideswipe protested.

 _"And in protecting me, you would deny the Decepticons access to me for fear of what they might use me for,"_ the Allspark replied, and Sideswipe paused.

"Well, yeah," he said with a sigh. "So why are you riding around in me then, if you want to get away from both sides?"

 _"I require some...information,"_ the Allspark said, sounding thoughtful. Sideswipe felt it dig deeper into his systems, his communications protocols coming back online, and data from the human's World Wide Web started streaming through him. He frowned to himself - why would the Allspark want human information? A question to ask it later. For now, he stayed silent as the Allspark continued driving and searching through the web, speeding towards the nearest city.

It had been the middle of the afternoon when they'd left the dam, and by the time they reached the city, it was evening. The Allspark withdrew from the web as they entered the city, but didn't turn off the communications protocols again. Sideswipe considered sneaking out a message, but so far as they knew, the Decepticons were still up in Alaska, licking their wounds, and besides...he was curious now.

The Allspark drove Sideswipe around the city for a time, watching the people around it, then pulled over and stopped in front of a bar on the seedy side of the city. Sideswipe instinctively locked his doors as he saw the type of people hanging out front and saw the Allspark reaching for the door handle. The Allspark arched an eyebrow.

"You don't want to get out here," Sideswipe murmured, then tentatively started his engine. The Allspark leaned back in the seat, and Sideswipe took it as permission, so he headed off for the safer areas of the city. Figuring that what the Allspark wanted was to interact with humans, since getting drunk didn’t seem like a logical reason, Sideswipe found a late-night java cafe that had a fair number of people in it. More importantly, the joint had glass windows along the entire front, allowing him to see inside. He stopped, unlocking his doors, and the Allspark got out without a word and headed inside.

Sideswipe could detect a slight drop in the sound levels inside as the patrons took note of what type of car their newcomer drove, but the Allspark ignored the attention. It took a seat in the far corner and watched the people around it with interest. Several of the customers seemed unnerved by its gaze, but a few girls seemed to take it into their heads to talk to this stranger, and sat down next to it.

They spoke at first as if expecting a response, but the Allspark, surprisingly, shook its head and made a few motions with its hands. Sideswipe was amused - the Allspark had apparently learned sign language from the internet. He wondered why it hadn't just learned English, and filed the question away for when the Allspark returned. For now he just sat, watching, as the girls expressed their sympathy over the Allspark's plight, but continued chattering to it - one of them evidently knew sign language, and translated the Allspark's few short comments for the others.

 _"Sideswipe, come in," Prowl's_ irritated voice caught Sideswipe's attention just as a few boys joined the Allspark's table, and he turned his attention from watching to reply.

 _"Sideswipe here,"_ he replied _. "What's up, Prowler?"_

 _"Where are you?"_ the Autobot tactician sounded even more irritated at the nickname.

 _"In the city,"_ Sideswipe replied. _"Like Sunshine probably told you."_

 _"Get back to the dam. The Allspark is missing,"_ Prowl snapped.

 _"No its not,"_ Sideswipe replied without thinking. There was a deadly silence on the other side of the line.

 _"What do you mean,_ 'no its not' _?"_ Prowl asked perfectly calmly, and Sideswipe winced, not even wanting to imagine what Prowl was going to do to him when he got back...maybe the SIC would go easy on him if he pointed out that this wasn’t even his fault? He couldn't have stopped the Allspark if he'd tried.

 _"The Allspark, uh, kind of used me to sparknap itself,"_ Sideswipe admitted. More silence, and Sideswipe wondered if he’d managed to crash the tactician’s logic processor again _. "Prowl?"_

 _"Hold on, I think Optimus will want to hear this,"_ Prowl said flatly. There was another pause.

 _"What's going on, Sideswipe?"_ Optimus did not sound pleased. At all. Sideswipe figured that might have something to do with the fact that the body the Allspark was in belonged to someone who was almost as close to Optimus as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were to each other. Might.

 _"Oh, well, it's actually a funny story. See, I was just sitting outside when the Allspark up and sparknapped me in order to sparknap itself. It headed for the city and startled rifling through the human World Wide Web. Then it tried to visit a bar, but I suggested it might want to go elsewhere to mingle with humanity, so now I'm sitting outside a java cafe while the Allspark is inside chatting up the locals. Apparently it's learned sign language,"_ Sideswipe explained in a rush.

 _"I don't suppose you could convince it to return?"_ Prowl asked with annoyance.

 _"No, and considering it outright told me that it picked me specifically because I could outrun the rest of you - well, except for Sunny, but as it also pointed out, he'd stay behind if I asked him to - I wouldn't risk coming after us. It would probably just sparknap me again and lead you on a merry chase across the country,"_ Sideswipe said.

 _"We can't exactly leave it out there unguarded,"_ Prowl snapped in reply.

 _"I don't think you've got much choice in the matter, just like I haven't got any choice in being it's ride,"_ Sideswipe said honestly.

_"Do you -"_

_"Prowl. Sideswipe is right. Besides that, the Decepticons are likely still recovering, and the Allspark has proven it can defend itself if it wants to,"_ Optimus cut off his second-in-command. There was frustration in his voice, and Sideswipe knew that his leader, at least, realized that there was no way for them to control the situation.

 _"If you say so, Prime,"_ Prowl said stiffly, and Sideswipe winced sympathetically at the use of Optimus' title. Prowl and Optimus had been friends for a long time, and it was _always_ a bad sign when the tactician used Optimus's rank.

 _"I do. Sideswipe, stay with the Allspark, and keep your scanners going. I want to know immediately if you detect a Decepticon in the area, or if the Allspark does anything unusual,"_ Optimus ordered.

 _"Of course, sir,"_ Sideswipe replied promptly, and the other two Autobots signed off, leaving Sideswipe to return his attention to the cafe. The Allspark still had the same table companions, but even as the red Autobot watched, the employees behind the cafe's counter started swatting people with towels, and the laughing customers - obviously all regulars - filed out, the Allspark among them.

"That is one sweet car," one of the boys from the Allspark's table said, shaking his head, as he and the other girls came out with the Allspark. The Allspark nodded, looking at Sideswipe with amusement as he preened at the comment. He wasn't as vain as his brother, but he'd take a compliment. Waving to her new friends, the Allspark came around to the driver's side and got in. The other humans waved or called goodbyes, then watched with no little amount of envy as Sideswipe peeled out of the parking lot, showing off just a little bit.

"Where to now, oh great Allspark?" Sideswipe quipped. A set of geographical co-ordinates was transmitted to him, and Sideswipe took a moment to match them to a location. "Montana?! You've got to be kidding me!" In response, Sideswipe felt a probing push at the systems required to drive, and he hastily began plotting a route. "No no, I'll drive!" he assured the Allspark, and it smiled in amusement as it closed its eyes and settled back in the seat. Sideswipe decided asking it why it had learned sign language could wait until the Allspark was less touchy, instead driving in silence as he turned on his internal radio and listened to music.

Distracted as he was, it wasn't until they were nearing the border between Nevada and Idaho that Sideswipe realized, to his great concern, that the Allspark had fallen asleep in his driver's seat and was now snoring softly. He debated for a few minutes as to whether this counted as the Allspark doing something unusual, and in the end decided to contact Ratchet.

 _"Yo, Ratchet, you there?"_ Sideswipe sent to the medic.

 _"Sideswipe?"_ The drawn-out response of a only half-activated vocal processor indicated that the medic had been recharging.

 _"Yeah, hey, did Optimus and Prowl share with the group?"_ Sideswipe asked.

 _"If you mean did they tell us that you're prancing around the city with the Allspark, yes."_ The medic was his usual grumpy self now.

 _"Good. Though we're not in the city anymore,"_ Sideswipe said.

 _"What? Where are you?"_ Ratchet snapped.

 _"Nearing the Idaho border. The Allspark apparently wants to go to Montana - Primus only knows why,"_ Sideswipe said with a sigh.

 _"Hold on, I'll get Optimus -"_ Ratchet started, but Sideswipe quickly sent a negative tone over the line.

 _"Don't bother, that's not why I contacted you. They still wouldn't be able to do anything,"_ Sideswipe elaborated once he was sure the medic wasn't going to get Optimus.

 _"Alright, why did you contact me, then?"_ Ratchet asked warily.

_"The Allspark is currently asleep in my front seat."_

_"And?"_ Ratchet said after a moment of blank silence. The medic had evidently not gotten all his processors going yet.

 _"The Allspark is_ asleep _, Ratchet,"_ Sideswipe repeated with emphasis.

 _"Wait - it doesn't need to sleep."_ Ratchet finally caught on.

_"Exactly. So why is it?"_

_"I don't know. You're the one with it in your front seat. Do some scans,"_ Ratchet replied crankily.

 _"Primus, did you do a complete shut-down before going into recharge? You know I have minimal medical scanners, none of which are aimed inwards when in vehicle mode,"_ Sideswipe responded just as crankily.

_"Stop and transform then."_

_"It's asleep, not unconcious. It would wake up the moment the transformation started, and I can tell you right now that I’d be back in vehicle mode and roaring down the highway the moment it did, "_ Sideswipe shot back.

 _"Well what do you want me to do about it then?!"_ Ratchet sounded ready to explode, and Sideswipe made a mental note that Ratchet was even easier to get angry after being woken up.

 _"You're pretty fast. I'll slow down a bit so you can catch up to us, then run a few scans. If you come alone and I don't stop entirely, the Allspark shouldn't have anything to complain about if it wakes up,"_ Sideswipe replied patiently. There was a long pause on the other side, then the familiar sigh of an officer realizing Sideswipe actually had a good plan for once.

 _"I'm on my way,"_ Ratchet said, then cut the link. Sideswipe slowed his speed bit by bit over the next little while, until finally he was only speeding a little. Thank Primus that Earth's police radar was so easy to jam. The Allspark started to stir just as the sun started rising, but it didn't actually wake until they were halfway through Idaho, just as Ratchet became visible in Sideswipe's rear view mirrors. The Allspark frowned when it saw the medic coming up on them, and Sideswipe decided it was probably best to explain before it took over his systems.

"You fell asleep, and you never do that, so since I don't have any medical scanners, I called him," he said quickly. The Allspark shook its head, but took no action as Ratchet caught up and began scanning. Even from several hundred meters ahead of him, Sideswipe could hear the medic cursing as the scans started to return data - it was a good thing the highway was mostly deserted. The humans might wonder about a search and rescue Hummer driving itself and swearing up a storm loud enough to be heard clearly over the engines of passing vehicles.

 _"Ratchet? What is it?"_ Sideswipe finally asked after spending several moments appreciating the medic's vocabulary and creativity.

 _"The tumors the Allspark healed after its escape from the Decepticons are starting to re-grow. If something isn't done, I estimate that Alex's body will die within a few days,"_ Ratchet replied grimly. _"Sideswipe, I need you to turn around and bring the Allspark back to the dam."_ The Allspark was apparently listening in, however, because as soon as Ratchet said that, it took over Sideswipe's systems and hit the gas, sending him rocketing to his top speed and leaving Ratchet far behind.

 _"SIDESWIPE!"_ Ratchet roared over an open comm line.

 _"I'd stop if I could!"_ Sideswipe replied even as the other Autobots came on the line, having heard Ratchet, and demanded to know what was going on. Sideswipe let Ratchet have the floor as he admired the Allspark's steering capabilities while going at over 200 miles per hour. It wove in and out of highway traffic before the traffic even knew it was there. Sideswipe picked up a few police transmissions, but they were mostly along the lines of the police deciding that there was really nothing they could do.

Actually, once Sideswipe started ignoring the communications chatter, Sideswipe found that he was enjoying himself. And with the Allspark awake and alert in his front seat, he decided now was as good a time as any to see if he could get any answers from it.

"So why didn't you just learn English, instead of sign language?" Sideswipe asked as they neared the Montana border.

 _"Less chance to make cultural mistakes, and required less input on my part,"_ the Allspark replied.

"Yeah, speaking of that, why did we stop at that cafe before this little road trip, anyways? And what was with the internet surfing?" Sideswipe asked curiously.

_"...surfing?"_

"That's what humans call it when they look around on their internet," Sideswipe explained.

_"Ah."_

"So?"

 _"I was...finding my muse,"_ the Allspark replied cryptically.

"What the slag does that mean?" Sideswipe asked in confusion.

 _"You'll see,"_ it said with amusement. _"You'll see."_ Then it leaned back and closed its eyes, signalling the end of the conversation. And even though he really wanted to know, Sideswipe didn't ask how it was driving without being able to see the road.


	16. NOT The End

Going at the speeds they were, Sideswipe and the Allspark reached Montana by the end of the day. That was when Sideswipe realized, to his eternal horror, that the co-ordinates the Allspark was heading for were _off road_. In the _mountains_.

"Oh no, oh nononono!" Sideswipe said as they sped into Glacier National Park. "I can't go off-road! Not in the mountains! I mean that literally, too - I'd get hung up faster than you can say 'ouch'!"

 _"I know,"_ the Allspark replied.

"So how do you plan to get there? Hike?" Sideswipe asked irritably. There was a suspicious silence from the Allspark, and then Sideswipe realized it was smirking. "Oh Primus," he groaned, realizing that the Allspark indeed was going to hike - or rather, he was going to hike, carrying the Allspark. "You're lucky I'm not my brother."

 _"Indeed,"_ the Allspark said calmly, and Sideswipe suddenly had a sinking suspicion that the Allspark had picked a specific twin, and not just whichever had wandered outside the dam first. He sulked as they made their way through the park, until they reached a position close to the co-ordinates the Allspark had given him. The Allspark stopped and stepped out, not even pausing to admire the scenery before giving Sideswipe an expectant look. There was no one around to give him even the tiniest excuse, so Sideswipe sighed and transformed, picking up the Allspark and heading for the co-ordinates it had given him.

He took the opportunity to scan Alex's body, and was alarmed by what he found. Judging from what Ratchet had said, Alex’s body had deteriorated badly since the medic last scanned her. There were tumors everywhere, some of them showing as unusual bulges under the skin, and several organs had apparently shut down, though heart and lungs were still opperational. He doubted they would be for long. Sideswipe considered turning around and taking the Allspark back, or transmitting his meager scans to Ratchet, but he doubted anything could be done at this point. A quick search of the web confirmed that failing organs were bad, and ones that had stopped working all together were usually fatal if not replaced immediately. Multiple organ failure was usually just plain fatal, no exceptions.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Sideswipe murmured to the Allspark. "Because if Alex dies, Optimus is going to kill me."

 _"He would not...harm you,"_ the Allspark said, and Sideswipe glanced down worriedly at the odd hitch in its voice. He noticed now the strain on Alex's face, as if the Allspark was concentrating intently - probably on keeping the body alive and functioning, he realized, and sped up his pace. He didn't exactly want to spend a lot of time walking about in a public park anyways.

Walking quickly, it took them no more than an hour to reach their destination, which turned out to be the edge of a lake, hidden in a wide, forested valley. The lake lay at the base of a tall mountain, and a small river burbling from its southern side. The river, dwarfed by the width of the valley, ran south-easterly down the length of the valley until it merged into a larger river, carving its way through the mountains. 

"Are you sure...?" Sideswipe asked uncertainly as he carefully set the Allspark down. It collapsed to its knees almost instantly, but waved him off regardless.

 _"Go."_ The voice was weak, but sure, so Sideswipe turned and headed off down the valley. He kept glancing over his shoulder as he went, his sensors tuned to Alex’s body to make sure it stayed alive. It just sat there, however, doing nothing, until well after he was out of sight and sensor range. He’d just crossed the edge of the valley and started heading down instead of up when a massive surge of energy pinged off his sensors. Sideswipe whirled around in time to see a brilliant light rapidly expanding over the valley, flowing outwards until it came to a stop no more than a few meters from where the red Autobot stood. Sideswipe had to turn off his optics and sensors or have them burned out by the strength of the energy, and he stood there, completely blind, until he decided to risk turning everything on again - and gaped at what he saw.

The valley had been lush with organic life before, but now all that was gone. Flora and fauna were gone, and in their place was a dull metallic ground, sparkling here and there in the sun, achingly familiar. It looked so similar to some of the scenes his brother had painted before the war, of Cybertron’s landscape in the early days, before the surface had been mined bare, leaving only the sturdy infrastructure to build on.

Even more amazingly, while the river flowing out of the valley was gone, the lake remained. It didn’t hold water, though - instead a pale pink liquid rested in the basin, and even at this distance Sideswipe’s sensors screamed at him over that much unrefined liquid energon in one place.

Sideswipe found himself having to sit down as he stared at what might as well have been Cybertron, millions of years ago when the Cybertronian race had still been new. He sat there, unable to comprehend as his fellow Autobots - who had undoubtedly picked up the energy signature of what had just happened - yelled at him over the communications network, wanting to know what was going on, if he was alright. It was Sunstreaker's panicked questions that finally brought him out of his shock.

 _"I'm fine...but you guys...you have to get up here and see this,"_ Sideswipe said weakly.

 _"See what? What's happened?"_ Optimus demanded. _"Is Alexandra alright?"_ Sideswipe blinked. Uh-oh. He climbed to his feet and headed into the valley, transforming and taking off once he was on the even, metallic surface, straight to the edge of the lake. There was nothing where he’d left the Allspark, no bones, not even a bump.

 _"Um, just get up here,"_ Sideswipe said, then turned off his communications system, save for a beacon transmitting his location. It was unsecure, so the Decepticons would have been able to pick it up easily, but somehow he had a feeling that they were meant to. He knew in his spark that this was meant for all Cybertronians, not just Autobots. But for now, he needed to find out if a human had given their life to make this place possible.

Sideswipe headed for the edge of the valley, intending to search and see if Alex had somehow been thrown clear - and hopefully healed, since otherwise she'd be just as dead as if she'd been incinerated. He'd just reached the edge of the valley when two hikers appeared on the ridge in front of him. Cybertronian and humans stared at each other for a moment, until Sideswipe realized he should probably say something.

"Boo."

He snickered as the two hikers screamed and went running off back the way they'd come. He followed after them, scanning to make sure they made it down safely. Once he was satisfied they’d slowed down and started heading home at a safer, but still quite rapid, pace, he began his search of the forest surrounding the valley. He found another group of hikers - who didn't even give him a chance to say anything before they ran away (which was a shame, because he was going to try the 'I come in pieces, take me to your leader' line on them) – but no sign of Alex. Sighing, he returned to the edge of the lake, sticking a finger in, then licking off the energon, grinning at the buzz it gave him.

"Tingly," he giggled into the quiet valley, then sat down to wait. Surprisingly, it was the army that arrived first. Apparently one of the sets of hikers had thought to call them, or perhaps Optimus and the others had. Lennox wasn’t with them, but Jorge was. Sideswipe grinned down at the human his brother had adopted as he, being the only one brave enough to do so, wandered down into the valley. The rest of the army was warily skirting the metal ground, setting up a perimeter.

"Qué de infierno sucedió aquí?" Jorge demanded, looking around in clear astonishment. Sideswipe quickly translated before replying.

"The Allspark," he said. "The others are on the way, I'll explain more then. Just keep people out of the valley until then - and especially away from the lake. It's energon, which...well, it’s not pleasant for organics to touch." Jorge frowned.

"Alright. But you’d better explain!" he warned as he headed off. Sideswipe grinned and waved lazily, sampling another fingertip of the energon before leaning back and watching the clouds while he waited.

The buzz of the unrefined energon had just worn off again when Sideswipe sensed the approach of the other Autobots, and with a grin, he jumped to his feet. Heading to the edge of the valley in the direction they were coming in, Sideswipe waited until they were within sight of him before turning off his location beacon. Then he waited for them, grinning broadly, and snickered as they one by one got close enough to see into the valley and stopped in shock.

"Isn't it nifty?" the red twin said with a smirk after they’d all had a moment to gape.

"What happened?" Optimus asked, his voice faint.

"The Allspark," Sideswipe replied with a shrug.

"Is that -"

"Unrefined energon." Sideswipe finished Ratchet's sentence with a nod. The medic looked wistful.

"What about Alexandra?" Optimus asked after a moment, tearing his gaze away from the valley to look at Sideswipe. The red mech slowly shook his head.

"The Allspark and Alex were on the edge of the lake when this happened. I looked, but I couldn't find any trace of her," he said softly. "I'm sorry." Optimus bowed his head.

"It's not your fault," he said sadly.

"So...are we going to stand here like idiots all day, or do we get to go down there and look around?" Sunstreaker snarked after a few moments of awkward silence, and Ratchet smacked him on the back of the helm before heading down into the valley. The majority of the Autobots followed him – the noticable exception was Optimus, who remained outside the valley for some time, staring down into it with an unreadable expression.

\---

"Well, they're pissed," Jorge announced several hours later as he walked up to the Autobots. He was still the only human to enter the metallic valley - even the higher-ranking army officers present begged off, using the excuse that Jorge knew the Autobots already, anyways.

"Who, exactly?" Ratchet asked irritably.

"Hm." Jorge thought about it for a moment. "Everyone." A few of the Autobots gave him incredulous looks.

"Could you perhaps be a bit more specific?" Optimus asked flatly. It was the first time he'd spoken since Sideswipe had told him that there was no sign of Alexandra, and the other Autobots started at his emotionless voice.

"The army, the government, any country with a satellite in orbit, all the campers that have been evacuated from the park," Jorge replied with a shrug. "The President is the angriest. Apparently no one in the 'house can come up with a way to explain a valley in a national park suddenly turning to metal without explaining about you guys." The Autobots exchanged looks.

"Hound, could you...?" Optimus started, and the green Autobot nodded, then his optics dimmed. A moment later, a shimmering dome seemed to form over the valley. Jorge let out a startled oath, and yells of surprise and confusion could be heard from the men stationed outside the valley.

"Qué en el nombre del dios usted justo hizo?" Jorge snapped up at the Autobots.

"Hound has the ability to create advanced holograms," Optimus said, nodding towards the green mech. "This is a bit large for him, but with concentration, he can keep it up until Wheeljack can build a more permanent solution."

"Hologram?" Jorge asked with a frown, and Optimus nodded.

"It will hide the valley from all biological and mechanical eyes," he explained.

"Oh," Jorge said after a pause. "Debo ir digo a presidente."

"And tell those guys up there to stop panicking while you're at it," Sideswipe said with a nod towards the men surrounding the valley, who were still yelling in confusion, especially as a few of the soldiers had now stepped past the hologram barrier, only to emerge again.

"Sí...sí..." Jorge murmured, and headed out of the valley again.

"Wheeljack -" Optimus started, but when he turned, he found the engineer already deep in thought, murmuring to himself about generators and feedbacks. The Autobot leader paused for only a moment before sending the engineer a message to make sure he added a force field, too, so that people didn't accidentally stumble on the valley. Wheeljack only twitched slightly towards the Prime to indicate that he'd received the message, and his mumbling started to include electrical charges and magnetic fields.

"This may stop the public from knowin', Optimus, but we're still gonna have problems," Jazz said. "Primarily how we're gonna keep our hands on this valley when I guarantee th'government is gonna wanna look at it."

"I know."

"Perhaps we can get the American government to declare this as our embassy?" Prowl suggested. "It is almost literally Cybertronian soil after all."

"Yeah. Cybertronian. Not Autobot," Sideswipe butted in on the officers' discussion, and the others looked at him oddly. "Look, we aren't gonna be able to keep the Decepticons out of here, even with a force field and a hologram. In fact, they'll probably just break both in order to get in here, which would be bad. Plus it would result in this place turning into a war zone, and I'm sure the humans wouldn't be too appreciative of us tearing up one of their national parks with canon fire and missiles. So why not just let the Decepticons in from the beginning?"

"What, you mean like, declare it a war-free zone and hope they comply?" Cliffjumper asked doubtfully. "I doubt they'll agree."

"Actually, they might," Jazz said slowly. "Soundwave is sensible, for all that he's a cold-sparked bastard. An' I heard that back on Cybertron, he or one'a his pets would sneak behind our lines once a vorn t'visit his home city. I think he'd be up t'sharin' this place, since it's the closest any'a us will get t'any'a our homes now."

"Starscream would be the real problem," Ratchet commented.

"Maybe," Ironhide said thoughtfully. "He’s older than he shows, though. He may appreciate this valley fer what it is."

"An’ if he has Soundwave encouraging him, he could be persuaded to declare this neutral territory," Jazz said with a nod.

"I would prefer not having to fight over this valley, and Sideswipe is correct that it will come to that if we just leave things as they are," Optimus agreed. "I doubt the American government will be very open to the idea of the Decepticons having a safe haven in their country, but declaring it a Cybertronian embassy for Earth might be accepted more willingly."

"I would suggest not explicitly stating that it will be neutral ground for Decepticons, as well," Prowl commented. "Not until after the deal is signed. I’ve had a chance to look over the reports of your dealings with the American government so far, and many of them still seem to have troubles differentiating between Cybertronian and Autobot."

"They don’t take being manipulated well," Ironhide said with a grunt.

"We have to try anyways," Sideswipe insisted. "The Allspark had no side in our war, and I doubt when it made this valley that it was intending for only one side to have it." Everyone was silent for a moment at Sideswipe's vehemence, and the red twin shuffled his feet a bit in embarrassment. "Well, look at it this way - Sunny and I can torment the Decepticons for once, instead of you, Prowl," he finally covered with a grin, and several Autobots chuckled.

"Besides, we may not have t’deal just with the American government anymore," Jazz piped up. "Jorge mentioned satelites."

"Now would seem to be an opportune time to inform the other countries in the world of our presence," Prowl agreed with a nod.

"I'll speak to the President about how to approach them," Optimus said thoughtfully. "Perhaps impress upon him the importance of having an official embassy so that we might speak for ourselves in international relations."

They continued planning for a little while longer, until they had most of the details settled amoung themselves, and then Optimus set off for Camp David with Prowl, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker. Prowl objected to bringing the twins, wanting Mirage and Jazz to come along instead, but as Optimus pointed out, the President was going to want to know how the valley came into being in the first place, and Sideswipe was the only first-hand witness. Sunstreaker had to come with him because the yellow twin was being a bit clingy after the scare his brother had given him - they wouldn't have been able to separate him from Sideswipe with a fusion bomb right now.

Meanwhile, Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Mirage returned to the Hoover Dam to start work on holographic and force field generators for the valley. The remaining five Autobots stayed in the valley with Hound, keeping watch over it and their temporarily incapacitated companion.

Ratchet, having watched Optimus closely since their arrival at the valley, considered going with the group to Camp David, but doubted he’d be able to get through to his commander right now. Optimus was shutting down his emotions, refusing to deal with what had happened, focussing instead on what had to be done. It was what made Optimus such a strong leader - but every leader had their breaking point, and Optimus had lost more than most, especially recently. Ratchet could only hope that Optimus could continue to keep it together until his friends had the time to be there for him and help him through it.

The majority of the Autobots had only been gone from the valley for two days when the Decepticons finally showed up. Ramjet and Dirge buzzed the area a few times in confusion, until they finally flew low enough to pass inside Hound's hologram. They simply hovered for a few minutes, gaping, until they realized that five Autobots had weapons trained on them. Ramjet yelled out an insult, then fired off a missile and began evasive manoeuvres - only to stop again in shock as his missile exploded in mid-air, well away from its intended target.

"What the slag?!" Ramjet’s confused exclamation was heard throughout the suddenly very silent valley. Bumblebee frowned, then took aim and fired his canon...except all that came out was a small 'POP'. His canon shut down and reformed into his hand, the incredulous expression on his face saying that he hadn’t given it the command to do so. Autobots and Decepticons alike stared at the offending hand.

"Well, there's still the old-fashioned way," Dirge said grumpily, and dive-bombed Ironhide, slamming into the bigger mech. They wrestled on the ground for awhile, until Ironhide got ahold of one of Dirge’s major coolant lines. Both mechs slumped into a deep recharge before Ironhide could even tighten his grip. Cautiously, Ramjet came to land beside the two unconscious mechs as the Autobots approached from the other side.

"Um, so, what is this place?" Ramjet finally asked, looking away from his fallen fellow Decepticon to the Autobots. They glanced at each other.

"The Allspark made it," Bumblebee finally supplied with a shrug.

"An' apparently added some defenses so that we can't attack each other here," Jazz drawled. Ramjet frowned.

"It was all confused about why we were fighting when it was at our base," the Decepticon said, then seemed to realize he shouldn't be talking about that and shut up.

"Yeah, Optimus said he had t'explain the war to it a few days before y'slaggers sparknapped it," Jazz said with a lazy grin, ignoring Ramjet’s scowl at the name-calling.

"I guess it decided it didn't want us fighting over this valley," Bluestreak concluded, and Jazz nodded.

"Prob'ly th'case," he said, then turned back to Ramjet. "An' it makes things a lot easier. When Dirge wakes up, the two’a you can go tell Screamer that Optimus wants to talk about a truce over this valley."

"What sort of truce?" Ramjet asked warily.

"Nothin’ much, just doesn't want us fightin' over it. Details can be sorted out by the two of 'em when they talk, but this is probably th'closest any of us are ever gonna get t'Cybertron again. It would be a shame t'fight over it," Jazz said with a shrug.

"Yeah," Ramjet said after a moment, then glanced down at the two unconscious mechs between him and the Autobots. "We should..." He made some sort of motion with his hands, and Jazz chuckled.

"Pull 'em apart so they don't start killin' each other again as soon as they wake up, yeah. You grab yours, we'll grab ours," he said, and they proceeded to pull Ironhide and Dirge apart. Ramjet dragged Dirge to the other side of the energon lake, and the Autobots withdrew to the other end of the valley. The conversation had been surprisingly civil so far, but they didn’t exactly expect that to last without an order hanging over the Decepticon’s heads.

It was hours before Ironhide and Dirge woke up again, both ready to continue the fight, but Jazz talked Ironhide down, explaining the situation. The Autobots weren't quite sure how Ramjet got Dirge to agree to leave, but he did. They didn't even bother to try and hide their course when they left – everyone knew the Decepticon base was in Alaska at this point anyways. Once they were gone, Jazz contacted Optimus and told him of the encounter, and the message he'd asked Ramjet to pass on to Starscream. Hopefully, the current leader of the Decepticons would see the merit in a treaty.

Wheeljack and the others returned from the dam a few days later with the needed equipment, and Hound could finally give his poor hologram generator a rest. Wheeljack's generators were placed around the valley at intervals, welded into the ground securely. A rudimentary central computer system was installed on the southeast side of the lake, along with the force field generator. Wheeljack had actually outdone himself on the force field - after hearing about how the valley didn't allow violence between Cybertronians in it, he'd configured the field so that, unless you were Cybertronian or had a specific device that he'd also designed, you'd just bounce off the field, with no more harm done than if you'd walked into a wall.

Ironhide was somewhat disappointed that he wouldn't get to see the Seekers bounce off the field, but he was consoled when he got to use Jazz as target-practice (albeit with his canons at one percent power, making a hit from them feel like no more than a tickle) as they tried to determine just how the protection protocols of the valley worked. They were surprisingly effective - as long as a Cybertronian was standing in the valley, they could neither use their weapons nor have weapons used on them, either by other Cybertronians or (surprisingly) humans. Physical violence was still possible, but only so long as it didn't cause serious injury, as Dirge and Ironhide had discovered. The American government was both placated and disturbed by the report Optimus passed on to them about this.

Of course, there came the inevitable day when Starscream replied to the message that Jazz had sent Ramjet back with. It came in the form of Ravage, who blithely wandered into the valley and plunked himself down by the energon lake before transmitting that Soundwave would be there in two days to discuss things on behalf of the Decepticons. Apparently Starscream didn’t want to negotiate it himself, so he was getting his communications officer to do it instead.

The Autobots had to put up with Ravage for the next two days. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, once they returned from Camp David with Optimus and Prowl, spent their time harassing the symbiote, but he proved able to give as good as he got, and even Ironhide found himself grinning at the antics of the three by the time Soundwave got there. The placid Decepticon said nothing about his symbiote playing hop-scotch across the roofs of two racing Lamborghinis (and very carefully making sure to scratch the paint of the yellow one), going immediately to converse with Optimus about a treaty concerning the valley.

It took weeks to come up with an 'acceptable' treaty, with most of the delays caused by Starscream. He may have told Soundwave to negotiate the treaty, but he insisted the telepath report to him every day, and usually came up with at least half a dozen things wrong with what had been negotiated that day. It might have been frustrating, had Soundwave not brought the rest of his symbiotes along with him.

Where usually Soundwave’s symbiotes spelled nothing but trouble for the Autobots, it seemed they enjoyed this new valley. Or maybe they just enjoyed having mechs around that wouldn’t slag them for the smallest prank. After a few days of quietly watching the twins get into trouble and get nothing more than a dressing down from Prowl, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw started seeing if they could ‘thread the needle’ of a walking Autobot’s legs. Ravage took to waiting until a Bot’s back was turned, then he would move something that was just set down. Soon all three symbiotes were making nuisances of themselves, and the exasperated Autobots shoved the twins in their direction.

Which was how the newly-renamed Cybertron Valley gained its first ever mud-puddle...right on top of where an invisible Mirage had been sitting and trying to avoid all contact with Decepticons. The twins denied all knowledge of the mud attack, but everyone knew there was no way Laserbeak and Buzzsaw could have loaded up the pails of mud by themselves, or even with Ravage's help, let alone found out where Mirage was sitting. Prowl ordered the twins back to the dam after that, along with all Autobots not essential to the meeting. Which left in the valley only Prowl, Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet with Soundwave, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Ravage, and the Secretaries of Defense and State along with their staff, negotiating the human side of things. The valley quieted down after that, and finally a treaty was hammered out

Cybertron Valley was declared officially to no longer be a part of the United States, but a part of Cybertron instead, under the jurisdiction of Optimus Prime and the Autobots. The Decepticons were granted access to the valley at any time, so long as they did not use it to launch an attack against either the Autobots or the United States, and vice verse for the Autobots. Neither side could use the valley as a refuge when being chased, neither side could stake it out and wait for someone from the other side to emerge. The human officials expressed some disbelief that the terms would be followed, especially by the Decepticons, but Soundwave assured them that he would personally enforce the treaty amoung the Decepticons, and see to it that Starscream did not break it. Soundwave, as hopefully predicted, was taken with the valley.

"Well. That's over," Jazz said with a sigh as he, Prowl, and Optimus watched the human officials finally leave the valley, Soundwave already out of sight on his trip back to the Decepticon home base. "How much longer ‘fore we have t’deal with the other Earth governments, again?

"A week, at most," Prowl said, and even he sounded weary.

"Better start preparin’ then, I guess," Jazz said with a nod. He paused and looked up as Optimus rested a hand on his shoulder.

"We have some time, and there is a more important matter than we have neglected for far too long already," the Prime said quietly.

"Alexandra's memorial," Prowl realized, and Optimus nodded.

Cliffjumper had been the one to inform Beth of her sister's death, and the Autobots knew the humans had had a memorial, but they'd been unable to attend. It hadn't been just because of everything they had to deal with, but also because they wouldn't have been able to transform due to their need for secrecy. Now, however, they made the time to have their own service for her. The built a memorial on the shore of the energon lake - on the spot Alexandra had last stood, according to Sideswipe - to the woman who had, perhaps unknowingly, given her life to give them back a piece of their home.

Beth came, but she only spoke to Cliffjumper, and left immediately afterward without acknowledging any of the others. Optimus tried to speak to her, but all he got was a rather rude gesture before Beth slipped into Cliffjumper's driver's side and took off down the newly-made road leading from the valley. Optimus disappeared somewhere for the rest of the day.

Ratchet went looking for the Autobot leader later that night, and found him just outside the boundaries of Glacier National Park, blowing every rock he could find to smithereens. Ratchet watched, waiting, knowing that Optimus was aware of his presence.

"It was always supposed to end this way, you know," Optimus said conversationally after a time, then took aim and blew up another rock.

"Wasn't supposed to end so soon, though," Ratchet grunted, and Optimus acknowledged the comment with a nod.

"Sixty years doesn't mean much more than three, considering how long I've already lived," he said, lowering his canon and looking out at the destruction he'd caused.

"It means twenty times the memories," Ratchet replied. "It means seeing her grow old, live her life, and take you along for the ride." Optimus actually smiled a bit at that, and Ratchet smiled in return before making the joke he knew had popped into Optimus' head. "Despite the fact that you'd technically be the one giving her a ride." An honest-to-Primus chuckle came from the Prime, but was gone almost immediately.

"It's strange how quickly we become attached to these humans. Millions of worlds across millions of galaxies, and yet within days of meeting Sam, Bumblebee was as close to the boy as he was to us. It's been the same way for most of us, myself included. It takes us days to form bonds that would normally take centuries," Optimus said sadly. "Yet their species has a finite life span, so short it's barely a blink in time to us. It's an unfortunate combination, and I have to wonder if it won't inevitably cause us more pain than if we'd just remained out in the galaxy, wandering." Ratchet thought for a moment, then couldn't help but give an ironic smile as he quoted a human saying:

"'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,'" he said. "Ironhide tells me that Sarah Lennox lives by that motto. I might lack the experience of such close bonds myself, I know that many others have taken the saying to heart, loving these humans like the family they never had. Except in Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's case, but they're just as taken with their human friends as everyone else - perhaps more so, because they already have the experience. Despite the humans short life spans, and the surprisingly closeness of the bonds we form with them so quickly, I don't doubt that not a single Autobot regrets coming here."

"Of course," Optimus said softly, sighing, then looked over the destroyed landscape again. "Do you think the government will believe me if I say Soundwave did this?" Ratchet laughed long and hard, even as Optimus jokingly waved his rifle in the medic's face threateningly.

\---

Prowl and Optimus left the next morning for an extremely secret meeting of the ambassadors for the countries whose satellites had picked up the energy flare of Cybertron Valley being created. The meeting went surprisingly well, all of the governments agreeing to keep the existence of the Cybertronians a secret until such time as they determined the public was ready for the knowledge of their existence. How exactly they'd know that, no one established, but they all knew it wasn't now.

After that, things calmed down for the Autobots, relatively speaking. They still had skirmishes with the Decepticons, but they were kept out of sight. After the events of the past few months, they were rather normal. Everyone was relaxing again - even Optimus to some extent, though Ratchet especially could see the deep grief the Autobot leader still held.

Optimus had left his spark-mate on Cybertron, and here on Earth he'd lost the closest friend he'd had in thousands of years, not to mention his brother. It tore at him, no matter how many late-night talks he and Ratchet had. The Prime took to spending time alone at Cybertron Valley, standing just outside the perimeter and gazing up at the sky. The others let him be, unwilling to face the idea that one day, their own human friends would die as well.

And throughout it all, no one dared ask the question that they'd all been desperately ignoring - because after having fought numerous battles over it, and suffering heavy losses in the last two, no one wanted to know where the indestructible Allspark had gone to now.


	17. Tabby the Mechanic and Red Alert

Tabby walked down the street, frowning at her shoes. Her life was so confusing right now - some days she wasn't even sure who she was anymore. It seemed like everything she knew had been pulled out from under her. Her home, her job, her family, her friends - all gone. She was left with nothing more to do than wander the streets of Phoenix, Arizona and try and make sense of it all. She couldn't even remember when it had all started - so many different things had happened all at once, it just blurred together now.

With a sigh, Tabby looked up as she stopped at a light, waiting for it to change. Her eyes wandered about, landing on a garage on the other side of the street. It wasn't the best looking place, but it wasn't too shabby, either. The doors were open, showing a couple of mechanics inside arguing over a car with its hood up. Three more vehicles, two cars and a truck, waited outside to be fixed. As Tabby watched, the two mechanics disappeared through a door in the side of the garage, still arguing.

The light changed, and Tabby crossed the street, approaching the building slowly. She wasn't quite sure why - she'd never been into cars, or fixing them, despite the fact that she could take apart practically any vehicle and put it back together again. She came to a stop in front of the building proudly proclaiming itself as 'Rob's Garage', waiting for a moment. Three male voices were arguing in the office, their words unintelligible, but clearly wrapped up in their own concerns. Frowning, Tabby wandered over to the car the mechanics had been arguing over.

A quick glance told her what was wrong with the car, and only half aware of what she was doing, she picked up one of the mechanics’ tools and started fixing it. Ten minutes later, just as she finished, a yell startled her enough to drop the tool she was using.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" another man had emerged from the office with the two mechanics, and was glaring at her angrily. 

"I'm sorry, I was just - " Tabby tried to explain.

"Get away from there and get out, or I'll call the police!" the man snapped, and Tabby fled. Behind her, she heard the man yelling at the two mechanics for not keeping an eye on the garage, and she felt bad for a moment, then sighed and decided it was time to head back to her hotel. From the way things had already gone today, she was probably better off just going back to bed and forgetting she'd even got up.

Tabby couldn't take her mind off the garage the next morning, and how natural it had felt to be fixing the car. She'd never enjoyed fixing them before - she'd learned only because she'd had to - but somehow, now, with everything else lost to her...it felt right. Lost in her thoughts about fixing cars, she didn't even notice she was passing the garage again until someone called out to her. Well, she assumed they meant her when they yelled 'Hey you!', since they were looking at her when she looked up. As soon as he'd been noticed, the man who'd yelled - the man who had threatened to call the police the day before - trotted over and stopped in front of her, giving her an appraising look.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Tabby," she replied simply - no other name mattered right now.

"I'm Rob Harris. I own the garage," he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the building before holding out his hand. Tabby hesitantly shook it.

"I'm sorry about yesterday -" she started, but Rob once again cut her off.

"Don't be. Jeff and Alek had been trying to fix that car all day, and couldn't find out what was wrong with it," he said. "I don't know what you did, but it left in perfect working order, without either of them having done anything besides stare at it and scratch their collective heads like trained monkies."

"Oh," Tabby said, biting her tongue on saying that the problem had been obvious.

"Whaddaya do? For a living, I mean?" Rob asked, and Tabby frowned.

"Nothing, really," she said, and Rob suddenly grinned.

"Hey, that's great. How would you like a job at the garage?" he said. "That is, if you're not just visiting."

"No, I'm here to stay," Tabby said. "I think. My life’s kinda...been turned upside down lately."

"Ah. Well, if you want a bit of stability..." Rob trailed off. Tabby paused, then smiled and nodded. "Great, come on in to the office and we'll set everything up!" He grinned widely as he set off, and Tabby followed with a smile of her own as the chaos of her life receded just a bit.

\---

Six months later, Tabby whistled to herself as she let herself into the back of the garage, knowing she was the first to arrive. It was something she'd established early on - she'd be the first to arrive, the last to leave, and never ask for overtime pay. Rob had found it odd at first, and a bit suspicious, but had gradually come to accept the eccentricities of this quirky female mechanic. He, Jeff, and Alek would occasionally decide she'd had enough and drag her out of the garage to go do something, however. Last time it had been a drive-in movie - the time before that, mini-golf, and before that, a pub with a live Celtic band. They always found a new thing to do, which was why Tabby kept letting them do it, even though she felt more relaxed when she was in the garage than out 'having fun'.

The garage had become the anchor in Tabby's life as she settled in again. She didn't spend much time away from it because it was the one place she could go and find peace. In the garage, everything was fine, everything was good, and nothing upset her. She could focus on fixing the cars while her mind churned through the events of the past few years, sorting everything out. She walked out every day with a new understanding of how and why things had happened to her, and she could accept them. The garage was probably the only reason Tabby was still sane, in fact.

Though this car that had come in the other day may just undo all that. Jeff and Alek hadn't even bothered to try and figure out what was wrong with it - they just heard the engine making a noise they'd never even thought it could and handed it off to Tabby, who had spent all day yesterday working on it. She'd come in especially early today because she'd woken in the middle of a dream with an idea about what was wrong with it, so now here she was.

Turning off the alarm system and flipping on lights as she went, Tabby passed through the office and into the garage. The car was perched up on the lifts, and Tabby walked under it, peering upwards to where she thought the problem might be. Sure enough, she'd been correct. She went to get her tools to fix it, but paused. It might take awhile, and she'd only gotten five hours sleep. Probably best to put on some coffee.

She returned to the office and set up the coffee pot, then filched a stale donut from the day before. Sitting down at the desk, she went over the schedule for the day as she waited for the coffee to be ready. There were six cars lined up to come in today, and a few more would probably be driving up without appointments. Most of the appointments were from return customers for regular maintenance, and Tabby smiled as she saw that three of them had requested her specifically to be the mechanic to work on their vehicles. She may have only been there six months, but she'd become well known as the best mechanic in the garage.

The coffee finally brewed, and Tabby poured herself a cup before heading out into the garage to begin work on the stubborn car's engine. Jeff and Alek arrived several hours later, opening the doors of the garage to allow the first customer of the day inside. It was a middle-aged man with his family van whose starter had suddenly decided to take awhile to catch, and the other two mechanics handled it easily.

The second customer of the day drove up while they were working on the van, a drive-in with no appointment. Alek finished with the van while Jeff sorted things with the new customer, and the day went on from there. Tabby fixed her trouble car by mid-morning and moved on to one of the vehicles with an appointment that had requested her, did its regular maintenance, then continued on to other vehicles.

The day was proceeding much as usual right up until the late afternoon, when Rob showed up. Rob had the day off, and was adamant about avoiding the place when he did, so it was a bit of a surprise for his employees. More of a surprise was the vehicle Rob showed up in.

"The fuck did you get that?" Jeff asked, eyes wide, as all three mechanics stared wide-eyed at the fire-engine red and white Lamborghini their boss had just stepped out of. Rob snorted.

"I didn't get it, it got me," he said. "Good thing, too, since I happen to have the most brilliant mechanic in the city." Rob gave Tabby a blinding smile, and she looked at him suspiciously.

"No, I won't help you remove all police-trackable markings from it," she said, only half joking, since she knew there was no way Rob could afford the car, but knew him well enough that she doubted he'd ever resort to stealing cars.

"I didn't steal it!" Rob said with annoyance. "As I said, it found me, not the other way around. But it needs a couple of repairs, and since you're so good with cars, I figured you could take a crack at it." To the three mechanic's surprise, the Lamborghini then proceeded to snort. And then their boss glared down at the car and started talking to it. "Hey, you agreed to let her have a look, so don't you go snorting at me. You haven't exactly got a lot of options, anyways."

"Uh, boss, you feeling alright?" Alek asked warily.

"I'm fine, Alek," Rob said with a sigh, then glanced around and got back in the car before driving it into the garage. Tabby, the closest, was the only one able to see that Rob's hands didn't even touch the wheel until he used it as leverage to get out. "We got any more appointments today?" he asked when he got out, and Jeff shook his head. The last appointment had come and gone, and the shop was empty - save for the red and white Lamborghini, now - so the mechanics had been standing around chatting, waiting for a customer, when Rob had arrived. "Good, close the doors. We're closed for the day."

"What?" Alek asked blankly. They still had an hour before they closed, and Rob had never told them to close early before.

"Close the doors," Rob repeated impatiently, then added a glare when Alek and Jeff still didn't move. "Now." The two mechanics scurried to obey.

"What's going on, Rob?" Tabby asked with a frown. "You're acting really strange."

"I know, I'll explain in a minute, but not until the garage is closed," Rob said distractedly, watching as the doors closed. When Jeff and Alek returned, Rob turned to the car. "Alright, you're up," he said. What sounded like a grumble came from the car's engine.

"Hello," it said, startling the three mechanics.

"Um, hello...car," Alek said with wide eyes after a moment.

"My name is not 'car'," it snapped in reply. "It's Red Alert."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tabby, this is Jeff, and the idiot who called you 'car' is Alek," Tabby stepped in smoothly, foreseeing things going badly if she left the talking to the other two. They were only polite and suave after they had a few beers in them. The car mumbled something that might have been polite in response, and Tabby turned to Rob. "Now would you care to explain where and how you found an apparently sentient Lamborghini, and preferably where it came from, as well?" She ignored the car's insistences that there was no 'presumably' about it, it was sentient, thankyouverymuch.

"You guys remember that whole mess in Mission City years back, where people were babbling about giant robots tearing up half the city?" Rob asked, and the mechanics nodded. "Well, believe it or not, they weren't nuts or hallucinating from a gas leak like the government said. There really were giant robots battling it out in the city - giant alien robots that can turn into cars and other vehicles, no less. Anyways, apparently there's two sides of robots, one side trying to destroy us, the other - this guy's side - trying to protect us. The good guys won in Mission City, but the bad guys didn't go away, and they've apparently been having lower-profile fights around the country since then.

"Red Alert here had a scuffle this morning, and took some damage. He changed back into his vehicle form to escape, but now he can't change back, which is a problem cuz the bad guy's still chasing him - saw him myself, nasty, ugly bugger - and Red Alert's mechanic -"

"Medic," the car correctly crankily.

"Sorry, medic, is in Nevada. So I offered him our services," Rob finished. There was silence.

"I'm sorry, you expect us to fix an alien robot that currently looks like a car with no prior experience or knowledge of how to do so?" Tabby asked finally, her disbelief clear in her voice.

"I had a look myself before offering. It doesn't look too different from the standard configuration of a Lamborghini - or at least what I've seen in their schematics, never actually seen one before today, actually guess I still haven't, technically - so since you're such a brilliant mechanic, I figured you might, just might, be able to do something," Rob rambled, then gave Tabby a brilliant grin. She sighed.

"Where's the problem?" she asked the car, resigning herself to fixing it.

"Rear. Something's jammed back there," the car said, sounding as if he fully believed this was a waste of his time.

"Right, we'll have to lift you up, then," Tabby said without hesitation. It took a good fifteen minutes for her and Rob together to convince Red Alert that he had to be lifted for her to see the problem, and even then he made his reservations very clear as he was raised up - he was even more helpless up on the lift, after all. Tabby ignored him as she stood underneath, inspecting the alien machinery critically. Jeff and Alek dared to take a curious peak, but quickly scampered off when the car snapped at them. He would only tolerate Tabby and Rob messing with his insides, apparently.

It only took a glance to tell that the Lamborghini was not a normal model, but Tabby poked around nonetheless, until she finally found what was causing the problem - a few cables were tangled due to damage piece of metal sticking between them. She also found a problem she doubted Red Alert had even noticed - there was a jagged piece of metal, sharp enough to cut, pressing against a rather important piece of tubing. She frowned when she saw that - the Lamborghini was damn lucky those cables farther down had gotten tangled, otherwise he would only be so much scrap right now.

"There's a couple problems down there, but they're nothing I can't fix. Just give me an hour or so and you'll be back to changing forms and beating the crap out of whoever is after you," she said as she headed for the nearest work bench.

"Really?" Red Alert sounded surprised, and Tabby chuckled.

"Really. Just some tangled cables and a sharp piece of metal," she said as she got the tools she'd need to fix the major problem - the metal against the tubing - before heading back under the car. She figured it would be in Red Alert's best interest if she fixed the potentially lethal problem that he didn’t seem to be aware of before she fixed the thing that was stopping him from transforming.

"Anything I can do to help?" Rob asked.

"Get more coffee. I had five hours of sleep last night," Tabby replied absently as she began working. Rob scampered off to do as asked, and Tabby immersed herself in fixing the alien Lamborghini. Alek and Jeff left after a bit, since there was nothing for them to do, but Rob stayed, catching up on paperwork and supplying Tabby with food and coffee, saying that he felt somewhat responsible for seeing that Red Alert got fixed. The Lamborghini was oddly somewhat insulted by that comment, and grumbled for some time after Rob made it.

"There, done," Tabby finally said, standing back and replacing her tools. "I'll just let you down, then you can try and change and tell me how I did." The alien car waited impatiently as she lowered him off the lift, and as soon as the machinery stopped, he began to transform, parts shifting, until he was fully in his mechanoid form. His hand whirled into a canon, then back again, and he grunted in satisfaction.

"Good job," he said grudgingly.

"Why thank you. Us lowly human mechanics do our best," Tabby said with mild sarcasm, and the mech frowned down at her. "Now, didn’t you have some big nasty on your tail?" Red Alert nodded, then transformed back to a car and waited as Tabby opened the garage door enough for him to slip out. He left without a good-bye or a thank-you, and Tabby shook her head. She closed the door and went in search of Rob, finding him snoozing in the office. She poked him until he woke, then fled out the door and headed for home before he could notice the greasy finger-prints she’d left on his cheek and arms when poking him.

\---

"Who did you say fixed you?" Ratchet asked suspiciously as he ran a closer scan on the Autobot's newest arrival, Red Alert.

"Some human mechanic," Red Alert replied with a shrug, then gained a suspicious look. "Why? What did she do wrong?"

"Nothing," Ratchet said, sounding puzzled. "From the look of it, she even got a piece of metal that would have severed your main energon line had you transformed."

"What?" Red Alert's voice came out a little strangled at that.

"And evidently you weren't even aware of it," Ratchet said, his puzzlement growing into suspicion of his own. "Do you remember where this garage is? I need to meet this mechanic."

"Well, I was kind of in a rush -"

"She shouldn't have been able to fix you, Red Alert. Even if she had caught the tangled cables that were stopping you from transforming, she shouldn't have noticed the energon line or known it was important enough to need fixing," Ratchet interrupted, glaring at the security bot to emphasize his point. "By my reckoning, you should be dead right now, either by Scavenger's cannons or the severing of that main line. Now I would like you to think very carefully - where was this garage?"

"Uh. I'll take you there," Red Alert said, and Ratchet nodded in satisfaction. The medic sent a message to Jazz to meet him and Red Alert on top of the dam. Even with the neutral valley for all Cybertronians, each side kept their own bases and did most of their repairs on them. It was just easier. Jazz met them up top, already in vehicle mode, and the three of them set off while Ratchet filled Jazz in on the reason for their little excursion.

 _"Do you think we might have another human Allspark on our hands?"_ Jazz asked worriedly on an encoded channel after Ratchet explained.

 _"I hope not - not after what happened to Alex,"_ Ratchet said with a sigh. Jazz murmured an agreement, then cut the transmission.

They drove in silence for several hours, until they entered Pheonix, where Red Alert had encountered Scavenger. Red Alert broke their silence to point out a few scorch marks that were all the evidence of his covert battles with Scavenger, both before and after he’d left the garage. At noon they finally arrived at the garage, and Red Alert pulled in, leaving Ratchet and Jazz out on the street. The two mechanics working - both male, Ratchet noted with an inward frown - looked up in surprise, then a bit of nervousness as Red Alert approached.

"Hey boss, that Lamborghini's back!" one of them yelled, and from within the office of the garage, cursing and banging could be heard. A few moments later another man emerged, obviously nervous, but trying to play it cool.

"Uh, what can I do for you?" he said awkwardly to Red Alert.

"The mechanic who fixed me, Tabby. Where is she? A friend of mine wants to talk to her," Red Alert grouched, and the man swallowed heavily.

"Tabby? She's, uh - she's on her lunch break. Just left. She should be back in an hour if you want to wait," he said. Red Alert sent a questioning message to Ratchet.

 _"We’ll wait,"_ the medic told him, and Red Alert passed on the message to the man, who seemed even more nervous at that announcement. Red Alert ignored him, pulling into the garage lot and turning off his engine to wait. The man he'd been speaking with seemed unsure what to do, and stood there looking at the Lamborghini for a few minutes before finally shaking his head and returning to the office, muttering to himself. The other two mechanics continued to work on the cars in the shop, nervously glancing over at Red Alert occasionally. Ratchet turned his mind to wondering how this female mechanic could know how to fix Red Alert, but every scenario he came up with was worrying.

None of the scenarios even came close to the truth.


	18. Hated Eulogies and Peterbilt Trucks

Tabby was content. Since she'd fixed that Lamborghini, things had fallen into place again in her mind, and she'd had her first good night's rest in a long time. More immediately, she'd had a great morning - the weather was beautiful, no really irritating vehicle had come into the garage to be fixed, and she'd just had a very delicious lunch at a little cafe she'd discovered not far from the garage. Yes, life was good, and today was a particularly spectacular example of that. Humming happily, she walked up to the back door to the garage office and opened it. She'd barely set foot inside when Rob pounced on her.

"What the hell did you do?!" he hissed frantically. Tabby frowned.

"Recently? Ate a really good lunch. Why?" she asked, and Rob looked at her like _she_ was the one acting crazy.

"I mean to that Lamborghini!" he said, sounding exasperated.

"I fixed it," Tabby said with a shrug as she opened the safe, where Rob let the mechanics store their keys, wallets, and in her case, purse during the day.

"Well then why is he back here with his friends looking for you?!" Rob demanded as Tabby was putting her purse inside. She paused and looked up at him.

"Friends?"

"Apparently, though I didn't notice them," Rob replied irritably, waving a hand dismissively.

"Interesting," Tabby commented, an amused smile on her face, and glancing back down at where her purse was still half in and half out of the safe. She considered for a moment, then pulled her purse back out and slung it over her shoulder, kicking the safe shut again. If she was right about what vehicles were outside, she wouldn't be staying long.

"Interesting? Alien robots show up looking for you after you fix one of them and that's all you can say? _'Interesting'_?" Rob was in a full-blown panic, and Tabby rolled her eyes. It would probably be best to calm him down before he fainted or something - Rob was a great guy, really he was. He just didn't handle stress very well. That was why he ran a low-key garage.

"Well, it is. I know I didn't do a bad job repairing him, so at worst they're here to kidnap me so I can continue repairing them. At the best, they're here to thank me." Tabby couldn't hide her grin as she said that, but fortunately Rob just took it as part of her 'too flippant' attitude about the whole situation, as he put it in the ensuing rant. Tabby listened for awhile, then clamped a hand over his mouth. "Relax. It's all good," she drawled, removing her hand once she was sure he'd quieted. "Besides, I've had a bit of experience in dodging giant alien robots."

"Oh, that's good. Wait, _what?_ " Rob's voice, embarrassingly, almost broke.

"Yeah. Wasn't too good at it, though. It's how I ended up here, in the long run," Tabby replied with a laugh, then walked out of the office and into the garage. Her eyes caught the Lamborghini immediately, then drifted to the search and rescue Hummer on the curb, before settling on the silver Pontiac Solstice behind it.

"Hey Jazz, how's the second chance at life treating you?" she asked, walking over. Behind her, she heard Rob hissing at her, asking what the hell she thought she was doing, talking to random vehicles, but Tabby knew what they were, just like she knew they were too shocked to reply. She stood there, grinning, waiting for them to recover.

\---

Ratchet went into shock the moment he saw the origin of the female voice in the office - even with close-cut hair and covered in grease, there was no mistaking her, not after the amount of scans he'd run on her. Something seemed to be wrong with Ratchet's vocal processors however, as he found himself unable to say anything - his audio receptors must be malfunctioning too, because he couldn't understand what she said as she walked over to Jazz. Fortunately, she seemed perfectly content to wait until Ratchet's systems fixed themselves, just standing there grinning, and completely ignoring the man from the office, who came up behind her and was hissing in her ear. Then all at once, Ratchet's systems righted themselves, and he was able to speak.

" _Alexandra?!_ " He admitted later that he may have yelled a bit, especially considering how the humans, Alex included, winced. But at the time he didn't care, transforming faster than he ever had before - secrecy be damned - and lifting her up, his medical scanners working overtime as they confirmed that it really was her, she was alive, there was no Allspark in her - though there was a low level of its radiation, even lower than the first time he'd scanned her, when Optimus had sent her to the dam - and best of all, no tumors, nor any sign that they'd ever existed.

"How is this possible?" Ratchet finally asked Alex, and she grinned pleasantly up at him.

"The Allspark represents life, not death. It's literally impossible for it to kill, even inadvertently. So everything that was in the valley when it went nova was healed and transported elsewhere. Trees, small plants, little forest animals, and me included," she replied. "I ended up here, and there's a new forest in Kansas."

"Oh," Ratchet said, letting his surprise show. "Why didn't you contact us?"

"I was a little confused at first - the Allspark left me with all the memories of what it had done while in control of my body, so I had a bit of an identity crises. I was still sorting things out when Red Alert wandered in, and he jarred everything back into place," Alex replied. "But I figured he'd be back with you in tow once you got a look at the fix job on him, so I opted to just wait."

"Yes, speaking of that repair job, just how did you do it? I know you don't know that much about fixing Cybertronians," Ratchet said with a frown.

"Um, hello, memories of rebuilding Optimus and Jazz?" Alex replied dryly. "I know more about your physiology than I ever wanted to know. Plus I think the Allspark downloaded every possible car and Cybertronian schematic into me before melding."

"Oh...wait, melding? No, don't answer," Ratchet said with a sigh. "This is something the others need to hear."

"Along with the Decepticons, yep," Alex agreed. "In the mean time, though, you might want to transform back. You're drawing stares." Ratchet blinked, then realized he was standing in the middle of a major city in full robot mode.

Sheepishly, the medic set Alex down and transformed back into his alt mode - fortunately, it wasn’t a busy street, and there were only a few people out so soon after lunch. Jazz was already taking image captures of the faces of those that had seen Ratchet and sending them to the FBI. Even as Alex turned back to the man from the office, the cellphones of the few gawking pedestrians began ringing.

Alex took the man from the office by the arm, leading him away from the Autobots and speaking in low tones. He calmed somewhat, then the two of them went inside, and when they came back out, Alex shook hands with the man. She went and said goodbye to the two mechanics who were watching everything curiously, then returned to the Autobots. Ratchet popped his driver’s side door, and she hopped in, buckling up as he shut the door behind her.

"So do I get to see this valley that the Allspark created through me?" she asked once she was ready to go.

"Of course," Ratchet replied, and pulled a sharp U-turn before heading off up to Montana and Cybertron Valley, Jazz and a confused Red Alert behind.

\---

It took them almost a week to get up to Montana, and that was with Alex sleeping in the back of Ratchet while he drove, so they didn't lose time. The medic grumbled enough about the time lost when Alex had to stop to go to the bathroom and eat - Ratchet point blank refused to let her eat inside him - so Alex didn't bother trying to suggest stopping for a hotel, even if the constant travel was giving her a massive highway headache.

Ratchet remained mostly silent for the trip, his processor working furiously over this new occurance, and Red Alert didn’t know in the slightest who Alex was, so Alex took the opportunity to get to know Jazz, instead. Even with the Allspark gone, she retained her ability to speak over the Autobot’s communication network, and she used it to her full advantage to keep herself entertained on the trip.

Alex found she liked Jazz - it was impossible not to, really. He was very personable, and quite entertaining, filling Alex in on what had happened since Cybertron Valley had been created. He even told her about her memorial service, right down to the line about the 'courageous woman who gave her life to bring a piece of Cybertron to life again here on Earth.'

 _"Oh god...Jazz, next time I die, I'm trusting you to make sure the eulogy reads 'she lived, she died, get over it',"_ Alex groaned at that.

 _"As long as you make sure mine reads 'lived large, died fast, left a good lookin' corpse', it's a deal,"_ Jazz shot back.

 _"How am I supposed to ensure what your eulogy says when I'm going to die before you so you can make sure of what mine says?"_ Alex demanded.

 _"I dunno, come back as a ghost and haunt Optimus?"_ Jazz replied.

_"Heh. Thanks for the idea."_

For all her chatter with Jazz, however, Alex refrained from contacting anyone outside their little convoy. She knew Ratchet had already asked all the Autobots to gather - she'd heard him - and even asked that someone extend an invitation to the Decepticons, albeit grudgingly. Everyone else, she wanted to see in person before she startled them over the comm network - actually, before she spoke to anyone else, she wanted to see Optimus and have a bit of a chat with him. She missed him. Ratchet had apparently taken that into account, as when they neared Cybertron Valley, he told the other two to go ahead.

 _"But don’t say anything about Alex,"_ the medic ordered gruffly. _"Not yet."_

 _"Sure thing, Hatchet,"_ Jazz said cheerfully, taking off and trying to goad Red Alert into racing him. Alex grinned at his antics, distracted enough that she jumped when the door next to her clicked open.

"Out you get," Ratchet told her with surprising gentleness. Alex blinked, but complied, unbuckling and climbing out. Once she had her feet on the ground, Ratchet transformed, then leaned down and offered her his hand. Alex climbed on, and he lifted her up and headed off, walking around the perimeter of the valley until a large mech came into view, staring up at the stars.

"Optimus," the medic called quietly, and two blue optics turned towards him.

"Ratchet. You're here. Care to tell me what this is all about?" Optimus asked, a weariness in his voice that worried Alex.

"No. But I have someone with me who does," Ratchet replied, holding Alex out towards his leader. The human woman stared nervously up at the large Autobot she'd come to care about, suddenly unsure of how he'd take her return. She really would have returned earlier if her mind hadn't been so muddled, but Optimus had no way of knowing that.

"Hey," Alex said finally as silence stretched on.

"Alexandra?" Optimus' voice was thick with disbelief as he stared down at her.

"The one and only," she said with a shrug. Optimus glanced up at Ratchet, and at the medic’s nod, back at Alex.

"How is this possible?"

"The Allspark can't kill. It can, however, download its memories into your head, dump you all the way across the country, then leave you to fend for your very confused self," Alex replied promptly, then smiled tentatively up at Optimus. "Ya miss me?" In response, Optimus picked her up and held her level with his face. Ratchet quietly slipped away into the valley.

"Yes, I missed you, Alexandra," Optimus said softly.

\---

It was an uneasy gathering that waited down in the valley when Ratchet arrived. Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Starscream had shown up, and were glaring at the Autobots from across the energon lake. Only Cliffjumper, out of the Autobots, wasn't in attendance, and Ratchet knew it was because he was with Beth...Tranquility and her sister's home would have to be Alexandra's next stop. It probably should have been her first stop in fact, but it was too late to change now.

"So, Ratchet..." Ratchet glared at Sideswipe as the red bot draped an arm over the medic's shoulders.

"No, I'm not going to tell you what's going on."

"Awww, c'mon, Ratch!" Sideswipe whined in dissapointment. "What if I promise to not end up in your med bay for a whole month?" Ratchet snorted.

"It would be impossible for you to remain uninjured for that amount of time, and I would rather you come to me and get fixed than wander around leaking everywhere...so no," he said. Sideswipe laughed, then went to rejoin his twin and report his failure in getting information from Ratchet. The medic watched with amusement as they then went to interrogate Red Alert, but the other Lamborghini just ignored them.

Turning, Ratchet looked back the way he'd come, to Optimus and Alex. Optimus was back to watching the stars from all appearances, but if he looked closely, Ratchet could see a lump on his leader's shoulder representing Alex. Ratchet smiled slightly, then turned back to the Autobots to find the twins trying to literally wrestle an answer out of Jazz. Prowl yelled at them to stop it, but Sideswipe just 'POP'ed his canon at Prowl, something that the twins had taken up as an insulting gesture when in the valley.

Ratchet shook his head, watching with amusement as Jazz managed to get away from the twins, speeding off to hide behind Prowl. His pursuers made as if to follow, but stopped short and decided they had other things they could do when they saw the look Prowl gave them. That look was turned on Jazz when the twins turned away, but the silver bot just grinned cheekily and wandered over to Ratchet.

"How'd it go?" Jazz asked, his voice carefully pitched so only Ratchet could hear it.

"Good, from the looks of it," he said, and Jazz nodded.

"Hope they don't spend too long catchin' up, though - only so long the twins can distract 'emselves from the fact that there are Decepticons standin' nearby just waitin' t'be trounced," Jazz mused.

"Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they spent the whole night out there," Ratchet replied bitingly. "And I wouldn't blame them, either. They've both had to deal with each other’s deaths, and realized at the same time that the other meant more to them than they even suspected." Jazz made a thoughtful sound, and there was silence between the two mechs as they watched twins continue to harass the other Autobots. It was much later when the others before them stilled, and Ratchet and Jazz turned to find Optimus approaching behind them.

"Damn, you even built a monument!" a human voice whined from Optimus' shoulder as he approached. Jazz grinned as the other Autobots, save for Prowl, Mirage, and Hound, stilled at the familiar voice. The three that had never technically met Alex looked curious.

"It seemed appropriate," Optimus rumbled, amusement in his voice as he approached.

"Pah, monuments are for stuffy old generals! Build me a pub or a really good restaurant or something," Alexandra replied, then frowned at the Decepticons on the other side of the lake. "Or just leave a pile of Seeker corpses. That would be good." Optimus just chuckled.

"Ratchet..." Sideswipe had edged over to the medic and was staring at Alexandra with wide optics, almost white as his scanners were turned on full-blast, trying to understand what was going on.

"Hi everyone!" Alexandra prevented any reply from Ratchet as she stood up on Optimus' shoulder and waved furiously to everyone. "Yeah, it's me. No, I didn't die. No, I'm not the Allspark anymore. Thankfully. And for you three new guys, hi, I'm Alex, nice to meet ya, welcome to Earth." There was a moment of silence, and then everyone began asking questions at once.

Alex waited patiently until the questions calmed somewhat, then began answering, explaining again about how the Allspark couldn't kill, so it had healed her and everything in the valley, then transported it elsewhere. When she got to the part about the Allspark giving her its memories from when it was in her body, more questions were asked, but Alex held up a hand to stop them, then called the Decepticons over. The Autobots left a wide space for the Seekers. Starscream sneered when he saw Alexa.

"I should have known the Autobots lied about you dieing," he said haughtily.

"Think about exactly who I'm standing on, Starscream, and what you did to him, personally. Then rethink that statement." Alex said mildly. Starscream sneered again, but said no more. "Right, so, the Allspark wanted me to pass on a message to you all." She took a deep breath and bowed her head, and when she raised it again, her eyes were blank - they weren't glowing, but it wasn't Alex speaking to them. She spoke in a strange form of Cybertronian, almost the same as the original but without all the hard edges, high sounds, and other noises human vocal chords couldn't make without becoming damaged. Surprisingly, it was easily understood.

 _"The children of Cybertron have wandered the universe for eons, searching for me and fighting each other. Now is the time for the wandering and the searching to end, and with it the fighting. Here on this planet, with its organic inhabitants, a new home will be made. I that you have sought have melded with Earth and its inhabitants, so than in each and every one of them is a part of me. Each human that dies, a part of me is lost, beyond your reach until it is born into a new body. Through the humans, the children of Cybertron will live again."_ Alex blinked several after she finished speaking, life coming back into her eyes.

"What does that mean?" It was Skywarp that asked the question, breaking the uneasy silence thaqt had fallen after Alex spoke.

"It means that the Allspark is spread throughout this planet, and the people on it," Ratchet said slowly, looking to Alex for confirmation, and she nodded.

"If you wipe out the humans, and destroy the planet? The Allspark will be lost again. And I think it won't be so friendly the next time you guys find it," she said flatly, looking at the Decepticons. "It's giving you - all of you - a chance to start over, to have a home again. Only here on Earth will your race be able to continue."

"Continue?" Ironhide asked after a moment, optics wide. "You mean...sparklings?" Alex nodded.

"Earth has become, in essence, a giant, living Allspark. The humans are the keys to access its power, though don't ask me how, I think you guys and us humans have to figure that out ourselves," she said. "Of course, all this doesn't necessarily mean you guys have to stop fighting, but well - you all know what your war did to Cybertron, and Earth is much more fragile." Alex frowned before continuing.

"I don't mind telling you, you guys are really lucky you got this. The Allspark was not happy about finding out that so many sparks have been returning to the Well recently because of it. It was contemplating just saying to hell with you all and buggering off into space where you'd never find it, but apparently it found qualities in both sides that it thought were promising enough to give everyone a second chance. So if I were you, I might think about trying to end the war as a bit of a thank-you."

"A thank-you? For what? It hardly seems as if it's done anything for us Decepticons," Starscream sneered.

"You may not like that the future of your race is tied to an organic race, Starscream, but at least your race has a future now," Alex said, giving the leader of the Decepticons a flat look. "And maybe if you stopped and looked around, learned a bit about us, you'd realize that we're not all bad - or I suppose not all good, in your case." Alex looked amused. Starscream sneered at her. "Either way, you don't have a choice about it, so suck it up and deal."

"You dare -" Starscream began in a screech, but cut off with a squawk as Skywarp gave him a hearty shove to the side. When Starscream regained his balance, he glared daggers at the teleporter, looking ready to attack, but was stopped by Thundercracker's dry tone.

"Given a choice between hauling either Skywarp or you out of here unconscious, I will take Skywarp," he said. Starscream snarled, but restrained himself, turning to glare at Alex.

"Were there any other messages the Allspark wanted to give us?" the Decepticon leader sneered. Alex chuckled, but shook her head.

"Nope, that was all," she said. Starscream sneered one last time, then blasted back into the air, taking off. Skywarp yelped and teleported after his leader, while Thundercracker sighed, shook his head, and followed at a more sedate pace - well, sedate by seeker standards. He still made a sonic boom leaving the valley.

"It's so hard to take those three seriously when you have Allspark-memories of Thundercracker trying to explain Bruce Almighty to Skywarp, only to have Starscream succeed where he failed," Alex said with a giggle once the Decepticons were out of sight and hearing range.

"I'm sure," Prowl commented, arching an optic ridge at the human woman.

"Speakin' of your time on th'Decepticon base..." Jazz piped up, giving Alexandra a curious look.

"The Allspark wanted to know about the war from the Decepticon side. They tried to interrogate it, but that wasn't really possible, so they were just holding onto it while Starscream got over his snit about nobody staying destroyed," Alex said with a smirk. "Soundwave had fun chatting with the Allspark, though. Even asked it about rebuilding some of the defeated Decepticons, but the Allspark never gave him a straight answer about whether or not it would do it, and then there ended up being no time anyways."

"Surprised they didn't use Beth t'get what they wanted," Ironhide said darkly.

"Heh, well, see, that's where it came in handy that I was locked away, sleeping, in the back of my mind. The Allspark didn't have feelings one way or another about Beth. If they'd killed her, the Allspark might've been a little upset at the loss of a life, but it wouldn't have really done much otherwise. Soundwave could sense that, and so told Starscream not to bother with Beth," Alexandra replied with a grin.

"Sleeping in the back of your mind?" Ratchet querried, and Alexandra nodded.

"Having two minds occupying one brain is a recipe for, well, death. Since the Allspark was already expending all its personal energy to keep my body from dying just from having it inside me, it decided it was simpler to just put me into a deep sleep, practically a coma, so it could suppress my mind and avoid the whole thing. Would've been nice if it asked first, but considering what it's done, I don't really mind." Alexandra said, grinning as she glanced over at Optimus. The Autobot leader smiled in return, then both returned their attention to the other Autobots.

"So we literally have ourselves a new home now," Hound said with a tinge of wonder, looking around the valley.

"You do," Alex said with a smile. "Which means that you guys are probably going to have to tell the rest of the world about your existence soon."

"We just finished convincing them to keep us a secret," Prowl said jadedly.

"Well, now we have the challenge of convincing them otherwise, old friend," Optimus said with a laugh, and Prowl glared at him, then started muttering to himself in an obscure dialect of Cybertronian that only Ratchet could even vaguely understand. Judging from the startled looks the medic kept giving the tactician, it was probably best he was the only one who understood.

\---

Beth was walking from Cliffjumper to her house when she heard the unmistakable sound of a semi coming to a stop out front. She froze for a moment, then growled. She wasn't in the mood to deal with Optimus right now. She doubted she would be for a long time - even though she knew it wasn't really his fault Alex was gone, she found it hard not to blame him. He was, after all, the one who had decided that the Allspark should be destroyed back when it had been a cube, essentially starting the whole chain of events.

If Optimus was here though, Beth doubted he was just going to go away if she ignored him. She remembered Alex's tales of his stubbornness. So the younger Morgan sister walked around the front...and stopped short.

"Heya Lizzie. Whassup?" Alex said with a grin, standing in the middle of the lawn oh-so-casually. There was a moment of silence, and then Beth pounced. Sitting on the curb, Optimus watched with amusement as the two sisters proceeded to wrestle on the front lawn, Beth yelling at her laughing sister about bad clichés, leaving her alone, calling her by a childish nickname, not calling ahead of time, and running off to have...Optimus reset his audios in surprise. Kinky what?

\---

A week later, the world watched in stunned surprise as the President of the United States, along with representatives of a dozen other countries, announced the existence of an alien race living on Earth. They listened as the President explained about Autobots and Decepticons, and their purpose in coming to the planet. They watched as the blue flame-decaled semi that had been incongruously parked in the background of the press conference transformed into the largest robot most had ever seen.

Shortly afterwards, the people that had been in Mission City during the first battle between the Cybertronians received phone calls from the FBI, telling them that they were no longer sworn to secrecy about the event, and stories about the fight poured into the media. A few books were even published before the mania over the alien race calmed down.

Through it all, the Autobots carried on much as they had before - but now with greater freedom to wander without drivers, transform without having to be careful of not being seen, and speak without fear of scaring people too badly. Those humans that had grown attached to Autobots found themselves the center of attention, both good and bad, but with their giant mechanoid protectors, none of them came to harm. Thanks to a handful of hikers, rumours floated about regarding a secret base for the aliens in Glacier National Park, but no one was ever able to find it.

As for the leader of the Autobots, well - at first many found it odd to see him driving down the highway, hauling trailers like a normal truck, a female driver moving about in his cab, only occasionally choosing to pretend like she was driving...but they got over it. The faces the 'driver' made at them when they stared too long helped. As did Optimus Prime suddenly hacking into their radio (or whatever other audio device was handy if they weren't in a car) and politely telling them it was impolite to stare.

**\- END -**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that. Many thanks to the Boomstick ladies (Cazcatharsis, Tiamat, and the various other regulars) who prompted the editing of Sparks, and especially Caz for being such an enthusiastic fan of Alex. Thanks also goes to [this website](http://www.textfixer.com/html/convert-word-to-html.php), without which it would have taken bloody forever to get all the HTML formatting into this.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this, and that various cracktastic AUs that are set afterwards!


End file.
